North West Coast 2016

Day 4, the finale!

The last cycling day of our Lancashire week. A plan to penetrate the Yorkshire Dales (a favourite area of mine, too rarely visited since moving away from North East England) has been sitting in bold on our unwritten agenda and we retired the previous evening with hope, ambition and fully charged lights. “We’ll ride directly to Hornby then take it from there”.

Thursday morning arrives, and groggy discussions about cycling form and muscular pains suggests the Dales may be another day. We’ll just see how it goes. Steve selflessly suggests I ride the probable century route alone, but I dismiss such talk. I’m here to ride with a friend, I can ride alone any time.

With open minds our initial goal is Lancaster with the possibility of continuing to Hornby, our gateway to the Dales and location of another favoured cafe. Of course, to reach Lancaster off-road means passing Cafe d’Lune (see Day 2).

Passing? Not stopping? Not likely! Front wheels slotted into vacant stands with cake weakness soon to be satisfied, we look forward to the usual cafe banter.