LEJOG Day 5 Shrewsbury to Preston

At last we've had a dry days cycling (almost) and it looks like Sunday should be dry as well.

Breakfast was quite a quiet affair this morning, quite a few people, ourselves included, were feeling a little jaded after 4 days of riding over some very tough terrain in poor weather. I suppose it was beginning to dawn on us what a challenge this ride is, especially without any rest days to recuperate. 

My group had a bit of a huddle before we set off and agreed we would take it easy today and see if we could have a bit of an active rest day as we know tomorrow will involve a tough climb or two. 

Mark's group included a couple of, how shall I put it, "later finishers" which were going to need some chivvying along so he knew he was going to be going really steady. 

Today's ride was never going to be one of beauty as we had to get across the heavily populated areas of Warrington, Wigan and Preston. Never the less the first 30 or so miles were fairly pleasant as we rode up the A49 through the Shropshire and Cheshire countryside. The bonus was that other than the odd little climb the road was fairly flat so we were able to get a bit of a lick on without having to put too much effort in. 

After the morning drinks break we were soon onto busier roads with lots of traffic lights and roundabouts to negotiate all of which slowed us somewhat. 

Lunch was after 60 miles and up to its usual high standard and then we just had to find our way through Wigan and Preston to tonight's hotel, something made a bit easier for me as one of my group is a Preston resident. 

From the acrid smell that seems to be emanating from Mark's side of the room (his cycle shoes) it would appear he has arrived; unfortunately, because of some hold up with the late finishers and a bike shop visit, he was about 20 mins from the hotel when he got caught in a shower and got soaked, although he seems to have enjoyed his day. 

There are some rather posh health spa facilities on offer at the hotel but once we got onto our beds we found it difficult to move off again especially when we realised Sky Sports was on the TV in the room!

Today's stats 87 miles 938 m climbing.