For the Churtons..

Day 9.. Today I left Ellesmere heading towards Liverpool.. and along the way, noticed a sign pointing to 'Churton'.. so a little detour took me through a very cute town, with one pub, and old town hall, school and postoffice. I even rode up the drive of 'Churton Manor' trying to find long lost relatives.. but with not much luck...but very neat to visit. Onwards through Chester and alongside the Mersey river before getting a Ferry across to Liverpool. Along the way I thought it would be nice to follow the 'cycle route'.. todays one took me through windy paths, along old rail lines for about an hour and then dropped me back about 1 km from where I started!!..which was a little frustrating. Liverpool is a big smelly yucky city with busy roads and too many cars. Today 81 km. (sorry no photos yet).

Day 10.. Trying to get out of Liverpool as quickly as possible meant staying on busy roads.. not fun! before finding another cycle track towards Southport, (this was where I was headng so I thought I'd give it another chance).. slightly better than yesterday, but I think when you are loaded up with paniers, a sealed road beats single track for comfort and speed. Southport was a nice little stop over, with cheesy fairground on the waterfront before finding an outdoor cafe for lunch where the wonderful Allan Curtis was singing. Thanks to Alan and a little promotional announcement, we managed to raise just over 30 pounds for Macmillan Cancer Support duiring lunch.. Thanks Southport!! Onwards to Prston, where the entire town was booked out for graduations.. so after a few worrisome moments a B & B was found a few miles North.. Finally back in the country again. Today 86km.. so hopefully over half way now.