Good evening folks. a little later than usual but here I am with the daily log. Last night I was Couchsurfing for the first time in my life and it was interesting. I’n not sure what I expected but it was an eye opener. I sat, chatted and slept in the house of a perfect stranger (not stranger anymore by the way) and I’m still in one piece.

i actually found that I had a lot in common with Noel. Aside from the fact that he works for a university and I did until a few months ago, we both believe that there is something not quite right with the world we live in, the only difference being I think is that he still wants to do something about it while I just want to get away from it.

This morning I started the flattest day I have had so far, and that I’ll have for a while, by going from Lancaster to Blackpool. In the process I took the bike on the Fleetwood ferry (the whole 2 1/2 minutes of it) and rode against the wind onto the shoreline in Blackpool.

I had lunch in Blackpool and then rode my way into Preston where I am staying with Malcolm and Irene (Tarn’s uncle and aunty). Malcolm and I had a couple of pints at the local and then a glass of wine with dinner, I’ll tell you tomorrow night what kind of effect it will have on the 58 miles stage I’m facing.

The truth of the matter is that I’m a bit concerned about tomorrow’s stage. 48 miles of fairly flat terrain will see me meeting Andrew that will do the last hilly 10 miles with me.

Enough to say that those 10 miles include some of the route of the Tour de France 2014 to see how I might need ambulance, defibrillator and lots of specialistic help by 16:00.

Chi vivrà vedrà

Tune in tomorrow to see the result and in the meantime enjoy my look for today.