Day 6 - Ellesmere - Eccleston, Lancashire

68 miles covered.
Set off at 8am, heavy rain all day, it was downhill most of the way to Chester, indeed just out of Ellesmere, I was skirting in and out of Wales, some of the signs were in Welsh and English. Chester was 24 miles up the road and seemed like a nice place but it was pouring with rain and I didn't get any pictures.
After Chester, I was back onto A roads and I had to negotiate the urban sprawl of Runcorn, Widnes and St Helens, I had been dreading this and with the rain it was worse that I thought. With the help of directions from the local folks, I got across Runcorn Bridge, unfortunately the cycle path was alongside the opposite carriageway and I didn't see it until I was heading across on the road, with lorries whizzing past me. I couldn't see much for the spray that they were kicking up. The A577 which I was on was more like a motorway than a Scottish A road but it did have a good hard shoulder to ride on. I was glad to find the turn off for Prescot, which I thought was never coming. I eventually found the B road I wanted at Prescot. I was glad to get onto quieter roads and the rain had gone off a bit now.

I had lunch at Eccleston, St Helens, yes there was 2 Eccleston's on today's route, just to confuse matters. I got to the best B&B so far at Eccleston, nr Leyland, Hilary had booked for me the night before. And the very kind landlady actually washed and dried my wet clothes. It was only 3pm when I got there but I was just glad to get to dry land. The flattest but wettest day so far.

The landlord and landlady were cyclists and were glad to help their bedraggled customers, the Parr Hall Farm, Eccleston is recommended.