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Days 10 to 12
Mobberley to Warwick Bridge
Friday 14th June Mobberley to Whalley
The forecast for the day was sunshine and showers. We had a nice breakfast at Laburnum Cottage with the toast delivered by tractor by the son who was about 6 years old. The first hour was dry and we nearly got lost in Knutsford as I misread the instructions from the GPS. As a consequence we ended up on the main A50 road to Warrington for a mile before picking up the minor road again. Our aiming point to begin with was the toll bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal at Warburton. Cars are 12p single and 25p return!! Bikes free. It is amazing that here between Manchester and Liverpool there is very little sign of habitation - we could be miles from anywhere. The rain started to fall as we stopped at the Victoria Tea Shop in Leigh - the tea wasn't cheap at £2.50 per person per pot - but the fruity scone was delicious. The shop modelled itself on the old way of selling its wares - sweets in big jars - and it also did a take away a slice of cake service at £3.90 per slice. The slices were huge and looked very appealing but somehow we resisted. One lady came into the shop and ordered 4 slices - and she was slim!
Just north of Leigh we heard our first Curlew. At Westhoughton we called in at the Daisy Hill Sandwich bar and was served by a very chatty yound lady who was very interested in what we were doing. She thought we were mad to cycle in this weather - it was still raining. She provided us with ham salad "barms" with virtually everything in that you could think of - ham, lettuce, cucumber, pepper, onion, egg etc. We also bought flapjack and muffins here for later. We were now beginning to leave the Cheshire plains behind and the hills were starting to get bigger again. The rain was also getting heavier. By Chorley it was throwing it down so we sheltered in a shop doorway for a while before moving to Chorley bus station (haven't I been here before in similar circumstances in 2004!). I am tempted to say that two old dears came to sit by us in the bus station while we ate our lunch but as one of them turned out to be 10 years younger than us I don't know how they would describe us! This same lady was very chatty and we covered lots of subjects including her desire to send all heroin users to live on an island. She very kindly donated £1 to Inter Care.
My waterproof was beginning to show signs of water ingress - it had recently been washed and reproofed but obviously had suffered in the process. So the next port of call was Halfords to buy a new jacket. The hills were still getting steeper and higher. We passed through the village aptly called Top o'th' Lane and then up again into Mellor - where we had to get off and push for the first time since Ludlow! Soon we were in York - no that's quite right - the village of York in Lancashire and then we had a glorious 2 mile descent into Whalley where we had booked B&B at the Swan Hotel. It had been raining for most of the day but had eased off in the late afternoon - however our waterproofs had kept us dry and the only part of us to suffer the damp was our feet.
The stats for the day were 55.47 miles : 10.5mph : 3206ft climbed
Saturday 15th June Whalley to Sedbergh
Breakfast was officially after 8.30 at The Swan at the weekend - we had been informed by the helpful staff in the evening that they would serve us at eight. At eight there was no sign of life and the breakfast room was locked. Tony W managed to contact the staff on an emergency line (they were all offsite) and staff started to arrive in time for us to have breakfast at 8.30. It was drizzling slightly as we left but within a short time it had cleared and it was dry for the rest of the day. We were stopped by three young cyclists at Cow Ark who were a little lost - but we weren't a lot of help. In the same village we passed a farmer with a wheelbarrow and young Alsatian dog - the dog thought that we might make good friends so it decided to tag along with us. We thought nothing of this for a while. Over a kilometer later the dog was still with us so we pulled into a farmhouse to seek guidance. The farmer recognised the dog and rang the owner. We waited for 20mins for the owner to come and then eventually the farmer agreed to hold onto the dog while we cycled away and out of sight. At Newton we were hoping to find a pub for a cuppa - but it was too early - so we carried on to Slaidburn were there was an excellent cafe alongside the river. 
Here we had an early lunch and signed the cafe owners Lejog visitor book - we were approximately midway between Lands End and John o'Groats.
The big climb of the day was still ahead of us - a climb to 427m with some walking along the way but followed by a 5 mile 
descent to High Bentham with very little pedalling. At one farmhouse along the way we were threatened by about 8 dogs - there were many warning notices about the dogs biting but fortunately they were all securely on leads or in kennels. At High Bentham we had a cream tea for £3 each - a bargain! Eventually we got to the Devils Bridge on the outskirts of Kirkby Lonsdale which still left 10 miles to go to Sedbergh. We were pretty tired after all the hills but an ice cream revived us and enabled us to carry on. In the evening we found a good meal at the Dalesman Country Inn with Tony's friend John from Kendal who had helped us find tonights accomodation.
The stats for the day were 44.7 miles : 8.7mph : 4521ft climbed
Sunday 16th June Sedbergh to Warwick Bridge
The B&B owner turned out to be a cyclist and he recommended an alternative route from Sedbergh to Tebay passing through Lowgill and eventually rejoining the CTC route just south of Tebay. 
This turned out to be an excellent rural lane which climbed slowly upwards avoiding the highest part of the A685 north of Beck Foot. After a short pause at Tebay we cycled on to Orton where we were hoping for a cafe - it was just before 11 and the village appeared dead. Fortunately as we were about to leave one of the cafes opened its doors where they provided us with tea and takeaway sandwiches for later. We had travelled 12 miles in two hours! Another 2 miles left of climbing before the descent over 6 miles or so into Kings Meaburn. I spotted an honesty box here containing goodies - so picked up a chocolate brownie. Then carried on a short distance to a pub serving Sunday roasts for £5.25. As it was Father's day we decided to treat ourselves - it was a bargain too good to miss.
The wildlife continues to be amazing. Loads of wild flowers in the fields and hedgerows and today we have seen Red Squirrels, Curlew, Oystercatchers, and long haired ponies not to mention the bears! Earlier in Crosby Ravensworth we had pulled over to look at the picturesque church and then in Lazonby stopped by a sculpture of three bears and chatted to a lady who said they had been carved out of an old sycamore tree which had had to be felled. She also directed us to the local open air swimming pool where we could get a cuppa. In Culgaith we had met and chatted to a lady who was visiting the open gardens in the village - she kindly donated £1 to Inter Care. The route then became more hilly as we approached Wetherall - we stopped here on the village green for a short break but there was a lot of pollen in the air and it wasn't long before my eyes were streaming. Just a couple of miles left to Warwick Bridge - it had hardly rained all day.
The stats for the day were 52.07 miles : 9.5mph : 3655ft climbed