Day 6 - The First of the Big Hills

We set off up the A34 towards Manchester. The roads were fairly busy, but we managed a pretty decent speed which allowed us to notch up the early miles quickly. Having missed our turn-off onto the minor roads, we carried on further towards Manchester on the A34. Heading through the centre of Manchester was surprisingly painless. A few roads were closed, but we managed to find the right road to lead is to Bury.

The weather remained overcast but dry as we carried through Bury and towards Accrington. The hills near Ramsbottom gave us our first ascent test of the day, reaching roughly 250m in altitude. We descended into Accrington before rejoining the main roads to head to Clitheroe. Knowing that Clitheroe was to be the last town we’d pass through, we stopped off for a sandwich.

After a couple of days of busy roads, we were thankful to finally head on some minor roads at Sawley to head over to Clapham Station. Along the way, we passed by Stocks Reservoir and through the Gisburn Forest, slowly ascending along the way. The climb to the 422m summit of the day was very steep and challenging, but thankfully we had a prolonged downhill to lead us pretty much all the way into Ingleton.