Friday 29th August

Tuesday took it out of us both and having arrived late, we decided to stay at Robert and Barbara’s for the day, to rest our aching muscles and knees, and spend some time with them.

On Thursday morning we woke to yet more rain (how can it rain so much?) and set off towards Colne. Following the road to Gisburn and then the 68 cycle route, along the canal, we reached Colne after a wet and windy cycle ride.

Having reviewed our finances, our aching legs and the terrible weather, not to mention Chris’s dodgy gears and the lack of time left, we decided that we would stop at Colne, Lancashire. Stop cycling that is. It was a bit of anti-climax, we both hoped that we’d get a lot further down the country before having to stop, but the decision was made.

We have cycled 603 miles and it has been quite tough in places, before setting off the most I’d cycled in one day was 35 miles and I haven’t cycled that much before, so I am proud to have achieved everything we’ve done so far, we just need to come back and finish it, and we will!

We got back to the Lakes and guess what, the sun was shining and blue skies were peeping out from behind the clouds, it was a welcome sight. We cycled home and I considered what we might do differently for the second part of the trip. I think less gadgets, leave the laptop and video camera behind, but not the ipods – I couldn’t have managed the hills without the help of the Fratellis and the Ting Tings, or the low roads without Newton Faulkner and the Eels! Despite having written so much about the bad weather and how hard some days have been, I have really enjoyed the trip and enjoyed cycling, even if the blog appears to suggest otherwise.

Thanks so much for all the support and sponsorship throughout, we will keep you posted and let you know when “Little bike trip - Part 2’ kicks off.