Day 7 Tarporley to Slaidburn

Slight twinge of sadness at leaving home Saturday morning having spent a night enjoying good cooking and the company of friends. Same old routine of check and recheck bags and bikes before departing for "The North" knowing that we were starting behind the rest of the group who had spent the night in Runcorn. Brisk ride up the traditional LeJoggers route of the A49 and through Warrington got us back on course and we were waved on by Chris (our lift back from Inverness) in Culcheth. Cycled a good 40 miles before meeting up with the rest of the group for lunch and proceeded through Blackburn managing to avoid rain until a heavy downpour forced a "rain gear on" stop - Quick thinking by Gareth to pull off the road and into an open warehouse  to stay dry whilst changing kept him dry but gave the fork lift truck driver he narrowly avoided palpitations. Suitably attired we continued through Blackburn and emerged from dark satanic mills into glorious countryside. Naturally finished off the afternoon with a few hill climbs and swift descents before arriving in Slaidburn at our Pub destination in time to enjoy some well deserved refreshment outside in the sunshine. Another 74 miles and 3800 ft of ascent to tick off  - ready to break the halfway mark and topping out the "Everest ascent equivalent" tomorrow Fingers crossed that we will miss the hurricane !