Liverpool to Blackburn

After two and a half months without seeing any meaningful rainfall here in Ilkley, the forecast suggested the dry weather was going to finally break this weekend. I thought I'd better make the most of what looked like being a beautiful day before it did. On something of a whim, I got the train to Liverpool, the plan being to cycle back along the Leeds-Liverpool canal to Blackburn, where I'd finished my ride from Skipton the week before. That would mean I'd have run and cycled the entire 125 miles this year. I was also keen to explore a part of the country I don't know at all well. I've not felt the same desire to cycle my favourite routes around the Dales this spring, partly because I've had little time to spare but also because they've become so familiar and I'm craving novelty, a sense of not knowing the road ahead. Those routes are also long and hard and I'm just not as nippy as I used to be. Focussing more on running this last couple of years, while I still can, my cycling legs are struggling. It's a pity there's not more of a crossover. 

I found the start of the canal quite easily, at Stanley Dock, next to the new Everton football stadium. I love the feeling of setting off on a journey like this, an adventure into the unknown, even such a modest one. I was excited about being on the bike, no idea of the terrain or where I was going, never any idea what was going to be around the next bend. Having made the decision, I'd been in such a rush that I didn't even look at a map in advance and that was pretty funny in itself, for me, simply blindly following the towpath. The feeling was very similar to the previous section I'd ridden, having a strong sense of place without ever knowing exactly where I was - with the one exception of Wigan, where the canal goes through the middle of the town. Elsewhere, it snakes through the countryside and around the edges of towns, hidden away so you scarcely know they are there. The towpath was mostly easy to ride, like the section pictured here, which is very typical. There were sections where it was paved and a couple of places where it was quite rough singletrack - by far the best bits those, with the added jeopardy of taking a plunge if you get the line wrong!

Believe it or not, I did go wrong in one place, not coming off the bike but losing the canal!! I was in my happy place, not paying much attention other than where I was steering, cruising along the towpath, and suddenly I rode up to a duck pond, the canal going no further. It was very confusing. I only had to ride back half a mile to discover that I'd missed a bridge and a lock, the canal branching to the right. In my defence, a signpost had been moved. 

After skirting Chorley there was a lovely rural section, where for the first time I felt a bit of fatigue. Although it's mostly flat, of course, the surface means that you're pushing most of the time, like riding up a very gradual hill on the road bike. There's no coasting anywhere, a much more continuous effort in the saddle than with the bumpy roads at home. Blackburn arrived more quickly than I expected when I recognised the spot where I'd finished last time. It says something about how much I was enjoying myself that I felt a frisson of disappointment to have finished. It was another grand day out. The canal section was 57 miles. I rode some 60 miles in total in about five and a half hours. The whole canal is definitely doable in a day, although it would be a long one and the bum would be sore at the end with all that bumping around. The brain would be tired too. It requires a lot of concentration and awareness, with a lot of walkers to be considerate towards, especially those who are deaf (or wired for sound) and seem unable to hear the ring of my bell! But it's good to be slowed down. Everyone I met was so pleasant. I definitely plan to explore a few more canals like this.