Day 7 Preston to Hawkshead

A slight sleep in this morning. The alarms went off at 7am! I was sharing with Omar and we were both reluctant to emerge from our very comfortable beds. Nonetheless, we were on the road again by half 8 back up to Preston and the lads were off and pedalling by 9:15. The girls were in the little van again and had set up their stall 15 miles up the road. However, the boys were flying and decided not to stop and push on a little further. In Lancaster, there was a bit of a nasty junction that we had to negotiate. It was a three lane wide bridge which later became four lanes. The lads had to cross all four lanes and exit to the right. Tris and I had researched the route on the tinternet, and we decided that I would meet them just before junction and I would follow them across, using the bus as a ‘mobile barrier’. There was a bit of a close shave where a milk tanker had to brake sharply but apart from that, the part of the day that everyone was apprehensive about, passed without incident.

After the first stop, Omar and I had to go and fuel up. On the way to catch up with the group, we came through Morecombe, so we stopped and had a sneaky portion of fish and chips. Yummy! The weather has been beautiful and the last third of the ride has brought us into the Lake District. The landscape around here is absolutely beautiful, and Tris (who has grown up in these parts) has told us that tomorrow will be even more stunning!

We arrived into Hawkshead just before 3pm. Today is our shortest day, covering less than 60 miles. We were greeted by Tris’ mum-Karen, who had tea and beer ready to go. Tonight we are stopping in the local doctors’surgery. She wasted no time in getting out the embarrassing photos of her first born!

Karen had reserved a table for us at The Red Lion, and at half 6 we sat down for some proper pub grub. Tris had us all trying the local ales, to which Keith and I were very impressed! After dinner, Tris’ family joined us for a couple of beers, while he told the story of how he had fallen of his bike earlier in the day. He had lost his footing while at a standstill and fallen over. He hurt his shoulder slightly (to which he is still moaning about!), it was nothing to worry about though. But instead of helping him up, Keith, Dave and Paul went to get their cameras out. However, on seeing the rage in Tris’ face as he was about to throw his beloved Boardman bike in a hedge, they thought better of it!

We were all back in the surgery by 9pm and bracing ourselves for a difficult day tomorrow. Rain is expected, and it’s a good 80 miles to Lockerbie. We are all a little bit sad too as we are spending our last night in England. Tomorrow and the rest of our challenge will be spent in bonny Scotland!

We would all like to say a quick thank you to everyone who has given messages of support over the last few days, they mean a lot to us all, keep them coming! Also, a big thank you to all the people who we have met along the journey so far, who have donated to the cause. It is greatly appreciated!

Posted by John