Day 18 – Full circuit
In 1977 my employers Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance asked if I would go to Lytham St Annes to take over the Management of their estates portfolio in the North Of England, including about 3000 acres of in hand agricultural land and Lytham Hall a Georgian gem designed by John Carr of York. Kate was a year old, Jim was on the way and neither Annie or I had any connection with the area, so It was a leap of faith to uproot ourselves from our quaint little cottage in Oxfordshire and head north. It took a while to settle in, but we made some true friends in our five years in Lancashire. Meg and Ian Hargreaves lived around the corner and had children of a similar age to ours and it was to them that I went in search of a bed and some company for the night. Sadly, Ian is very ill in a care home, but when I rang, Meg immediately offered to put me up and produced a lovely meal that we shared with another old friend, Michael, the retired family doctor who oversaw the birth of Jim in 1978 and his friend Sally. On these long cycle trips one of the things I miss, is a relaxed evening reminiscing and relaxing.
I knew I was in for almost 80 miles of riding today on flat ground: no chance to stop pedalling so it’s exhausting work. I got away after breakfast at 0850 and headed east because the Ribble estuary cuts 10 miles inland to Preston. It was overcast with a bit of rain in the air and I was dressed accordingly. There is a cycle lane beside the road and once in Preston completely off road cycle ways
Yesterdays wind had, thank goodness, abated and it wasn’t until I reached Southport 25 miles into the journey that I was aware of it at all. It’s a trifle ironic that Lytham and Southport are only about five miles apart as the crow flies but you need to travel 25 miles to get from one to t’other.
Last year on my final day of riding the East Coast I took a picture of the longest pier in Britain at Southsea. This year my final day included the rather less magnificent pier at Southport
Out in Morecambe Bay was a host of windmills
And I made my way down the coast past Royal Birkdale Golf Course, host of the Open Championship on many occasions and Formby GC which has also hosted international tournaments. At Crosby I was moving into suburban Liverpool and soon passing the docks, now mainly container shipping. There were plentiful cycle ways and I passed the new football ground that Everton have built.
Soon there was the Liver building in front of me, and it didn’t take long to find St James station.
There is no cycle way across the Mersey: cycles are banned from the tunnels so it’s either Ferry across the Mersey or you can put your bike on the Metro at St James and travel one stop to Hamilton Square in Birkenhead on the Wirral - which Is what I did. Very simple with good lifts but expensive at £ 3.95 for the short ride.
I played rugby at Bedford in the 70s and amongst my team mates was Alan Towersey who has retired to the Wirral and arranged to meet up with me at some point today. I gave an ETA and amazingly we arrived at the station within 5 minutes of one another. Alan kindly bought me a cup of tea and arranged to follow me down the Wirral to take some pictures so here is the only action picture of me that you are likely to see
Thanks Alan for chasing me around the countryside.
The bottom part of the Wirral is marshland, some of it firing ranges and I was surprised to go into Wales for almost ten miles of the journey
As part of my circumnavigation of Britain included my trip around Wales in 2020 it should not have been; and the main purpose of today was to mark the end of that journey. I crossed this bridge in 2020 and that is where the paths crossed.
I now had a long hard 5 mile slog along the canalised River Dee before I reached the outskirts of Chester and followed the river past the racecourse
Arriving at the Townhouse Hotel at about 1815.
So that’s it: over a period of 12 years I have cycled all the way around the island of Britain. I’ll sit down later and work out the distance but it must be somewhere around 6000 miles. I think this stage has been the hardest, both in terms of terrain and, particularly, the weather.
