Today's been a funny sort of day. The hotel we stayed in was a bit odd last night, no one seemed to know what was going on and the clash of patterns between walls, upholstery, curtains, carpets etc was a sensory overload. As an example, we were told that the towels were kept in the wardrobe when we mentioned we didn't have any in the room... odd! My knee was agony most of the day today. I've done lots of stretching and I'm hoping it'll get better but I'm really really worried. I can hardly walk at the moment I'm just going to strap it up tomorrow and not clip in. It appears to be the muscle to the right of my knee cap on my right knee, every peddle stroke feels like a knife is being stabbed into my knee cap. Not much fun!
The Wrekin area actually really nice. Surprising as Telford is such a dump.
We cycled up middlewood way from Macclesfield, which is a disused railway line, so very flat but not too fast. We met rich's aunt and uncle for a quick cup of tea and some cake, leaving us 10 miles to Stella's. however, my map plotting skills were pretty poor and we ended up climbing a dirt track up to a ridge overlooking glossop. A tip for future reference is if a sign says 'unsuitable for motor vehicles' it's safe to assume its also unsuitable for pannier laden road bikes...
I could hardly walk by the time we arrived at Stella's and after about half an hour the knee had seized up completely... Not good. Even getting out of a chair was agony, and stairs were an absolute no no. Gonna rest and stretch and strap and hope...
Day 7.
I'm writing this as we settle down to a quite night in the sleepy hamlet of kettlewell, Wharfdale. I'll be posting it up sometime later as there us no 3G here... We arrived in kettlewell at about 9:50pm, 10 minutes to spare before the hostel shut so we cut it a bit fine! The problem is getting ready in good time in the mornings; and we keep doing it. This morning, for example, it was so nice to be round Stella's, everyone just took their time getting ready until before we knew it it was 11am and we hadn't started. We've set a rule that we're to be on the road for 9 tomorrow, no excuses!
The route today took us around the satellite towns of Manchester, before heading up the Rochdale canal. The canal was really lovely to ride in the sun, with lots of typically northern town charm, but even though it is a national cycle network recognised path, every mile or so there is some deliberate obstical to stop cyclists.
We had a pretty easy first 30 miles before we got to Hebden Bridge, then came the famous climb out of it (see this years tour of Britain, and they won't be doing it with panniers on). We all did really well, but probably left a bit too much of ourselves on that climb forgetting that we still had a few dales to negotiate in the last 35 miles.
It was beautifully cycling up the path of the river wharf as the sun set, casting shadows over the vale and dales, but probably cutting it a bit too fine... My knee appears to have made a miraculous recovery and has not caused me any trouble, I stretched it loads and had an elastic bandage covering my whole right leg all day like some woollen white stocking. It's not pretty, but if looks like it might have worked.
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