Day 9: Nantwich to Leigh

Day 9: Nantwich to Leigh (I’ve stopped quoting distances, as they’re mostly guesswork)
I’m still wearing cycling shorts and jog pants, and even then I seem to be getting sunburnt through them. Since there are no secure pockets in the jog pants, I’m keeping money in the cycling shorts, which means that I have to undo the top layer to get money out. This tends to provoke some startled reactions in shops when I come to pay.
It’s a long day, pedalling along on my own, but I’m surprisingly un-bored. Just putting one foot in front of the other seems to keep my mind occupied. It’s also a very good day, and the countryside is beautiful. Also, this is the first day in which the wind isn’t in our faces. We signed up to the South to North route on the basis that the prevailing wind would be behind us, so it’s about time! We really have been lucky with the weather- only two days with rain. The route goes along a toll road, with tolls of 27p and 51p. How do they manage to make a commercial proposition of this? Unfortunately I don’t think to get my camera out in time.
As I’m watering the hedge out of sight of the passing cars, a double decker bus goes passed. To my horror they spot me and start waving. I’m tempted to wave back, but a moment’s reflection convinces me that neither of the possible ways of doing this would be a good plan.
As we arrive in Salford, the shocking news is starting to come in of the gunman’s rampage in Cumbria.