DAY 5
Shrewsbury to Longridge

the plan:

The first day of cycling over 100 miles, but fortunately on flat roads so we should speed through Shropshire into Cheshire, and then up into Greater Manchester into Lancashire, and finally through Preston to our stop for the night in Longridge, in the Ribble Valley.

the reality:

An earlier start than we've had so far, meeting up for breakfast in the Little Chef next to the Shrewsbury Travelodge at 7am, before heading out around 7.45am. Blue skies and sunshine and flat roads - so a great start to the day. The flat roads in fact continued pretty much all day, and whilst the wind picked up a bit, the sunshine stayed too, so the miles did speed past pretty quickly as promised. A novelty for today was that we were 'unsupported', as Juanita, Jean and the van took Paul to see the physio in Manchester - a bit unnerving not having the regular access to as much flapjack, cake and Haribos as you could ever desire, but we just about survived. Had a slightly unplanned, but very successful, visit to Buy a Bike Direct at Charnock Richard late afternoon to fix Tom's bike (thanks Pete for your help), and then cruised into the Beacon Hill View Holiday Park around 6.45pm.

Distance travelled: 105 miles (cumulative 445 miles)
Total time taken Day 5: 10 hours 45 minutes
Cumulative time: 45 hours 52 minutes
Ride Time: 7 hours 16 minutes
Day Leader: Kev