Day 8: Ellesmere to Eccleston (Return of the Matt)

Alan - I've not been looking forward to today. The main part of the route was on dual carriageways and through the suburbs of Runcorn, Widnes and St Helens. No worse than the suburbs of any other part of the country, but after days of rolling coutryside it wasn't pleasant. The high points were, passing through Wales, walking through Chester, even though my navigation skills let us down again and we ended up actually on the old walls (see photo), crossing the Mersey and of course the return of Matt. I'm not quite sure what really happpened at the hospital yesterday, but Matt was flying along today, which meant I had to concentrate on keeping up and didn't see much of the urban sprawl. See Matt's report for an update on the hand.

Finally for me, yesterday I had a rather menacing call from the JBLF. As a result I would like to publicly assure everyone that no Jelly Babies were harmed when the photo was taken the other day. Also in response to concerns that have been brought to my attention, we asked the Jelly Baby family mentioned in the earlier blog whether they wanted to continue on the trip or if they would like their freedom. They opted for freedom and left us when we crossed the Welsh border to join a small community of Jelly Babies and other assorted Jelly based life forms who get by in North Wales by running an outdoor activity centre which specialises in team building courses for many blue chip companies. We wish them well and they have promised us a good rate if we decide to attend a course in the future. Personaly I think this is just a way of raising funds for the JBLF, so I wont be signing up any time soon.

Matt - Well I'm back in the saddle and enjoyed the ride today. The hand is sort of working but not perfect. Trying to sort that out with Nurofen, support and a pint of Landlord. Should be no problem with riding tommorow. ;-)

I'm sure that I was only flying along because I had a day's rest and had found a way to ease the saddle sores!

We went through a flood about 6 miles into the ride today that came at least half way up the wheels of the bike. I did manage to get a gear change in half way through which was quite cooll! (see picture).

Elayne - B&B update - Black Lion in Ellesmere definitely worth a visit, New owners, brothers Matthew and Issac are doing a grand job, despite the fact that neither of them look old enough to drink, let alone own a hotel. Warm welcome, huge sprawling suites for both of us (Matt even had a four poster bed and a good meal for £10 per head. Ellesmere itself is a nice friendly little place with a shop selling daleks, Star Wars stuff and model railways, Picture to be posted later.

Tonight's place newly converted barn (Parr Hall Farm) in Eccleston (the second one we've been to today - this is the one near Chorley). Very smart with good bathrooms.