Day 5 - Shrewsbury to Charnock Richard

Charnock where? Richard, that's where. I had hoped to stay in Preston but there's some sort of golf tournament going on (the Open or something) so all the hotel rooms had tripled in price. Therefore I had to settle for slightly further south and booked a room at a Days Inn in Charnock Richard.
Breakfast was at 8am so I went down as soon as I could and ate alone as I was the only guest staying there that night (cereal, scrambled eggs, toast, juice, coffee).

Packed my stuff, picked my bike out of storage and was away by about 9am.

Today proved to be the flattest day so far but that didn't stop right knee from barking from the off. I ignored it (as usual, like a child throwing a tantrum I thought it best to pay it no attention) and set off over the Cheshire plains towards Chester.

The route criss-crossed the English/Welsh border several times and passed through some beautiful countryside and villages. The weather was overcast but dry so I was unhindered by wet weather gear.
Today's route was the most complicated of all since it meandered through some small lanes which had very few signs attached. So I consider it a success that I only went wrong once. Cycling down a road I thought I was on I came to a dead end. I looked at the map then the road then the map again and became confused. I took out my iPhone and fired up the NavFree app which soon told me that the map was wrong. I had been travelling parallel to the road I should have been on but had failed to mark the point of turning off on my instructions. A quick detour and I was back on track losing at most a mile or two.

I eventually arrived in the outskirts of Chester, an area I know well because my girlfriend lived there before she moved to London with me.

My next destination was Frodsham where I would be stopping for lunch. As I approached Frodsham a yellow clad figure was waving at me from a footbridge over the road. It turned out it was my girlfriend's brother-in-law (who I suppose this time next year will be my brother-in-law too) Carl. He lives in Frodsham and had been tracking my progress in the Where Am I tab on this blog.
We cycled together into Frodsham where I tucked into cereal bars and an apple while we talked about my progress and life in general. Carl then posed for a fetching photo.



Lunch over and Carl joined me for a couple of miles before heading back home. Buoyed by meeting up with a friendly face I started on the last 30 miles to get to my hotel for the night.
The cycling after lunch contrasted greatly with that before. Whereas I had been cycling through green, luscious countryside in the morning I was now heading into a decidedly more urban environment.

Urban cycling brings its own pleasures. The scenery is constantly changing so there's far more sense of making progress. The traffic is heavier but there's always cycle lanes about.
I headed through Warrington and crossed the Mersey without even needing a ferry.



Next up was Wigan before finally arriving at Charnock Richard. Due to my limited choice of hotels in the area this particular one is in a service station on the M6! The cultural delights of Monmouth and Shrewsbury seem very far away.



Breakfast tomorrow is from 7am so I should get away by 8. Then I head up through Preston, Lancaster and will be finishing in Ambleside in the Lake District where the hotel apparently has a swimming pool, sauna and steam room which I intend to make full use of. Also it will be the shortest journey in the entire trip at less than 70 miles so I hope to get there earlier than usual.

Day 5 route:

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Location:Park Hall Rd,Charnock Richard,United Kingdom