On Monday 9th August, I am going to attempt to ride the Leeds Liverpool Canal from end to end - all 127 miles of it. I'm not doing it for charity, not this time, though there are plans afoot already to do the new Coast to Coast route next year. But this one's for me. This one is 100% selfish. This one is to take 1 picture every mile. This one is for ambling along, tweeting as I go, taking a book to read over lunch and soaking in the views (if I can see them through the Lancashire/Yorkshire rain). I intend to take 3-4 days over it but I'm not sure exactly how long it will take, because I've never ridden more than 15 miles in one day before. Yes, I am insane. Onwards.
More than anything, this one is to prove a point. The point is 18.5 stone of women shaped with added medical problems which mean movement is not always something to be taken for granted. The point is fat and fit, it's independance, freedom, determination and shedding some ties which have bound for too long. I will update this page with LLC stuff and try and keep the other blog free from the clutter, because clutter there shall be as I try and get my head around logistics, drop off and pick up points, train times, train bike bookings, food and drink and general boredom inducing lists.
There will, I suspect, be swearing to follow, among the pictures of bridges, sheep, canal boats and panoramas of hills. It's also become clear that a swathe of the canal will actually be empty for some of my trip as United Utilities shut the feeds from 7 reservoirs in an effort to conserve water. This may or may not reveal either the wonders of late 1800 engineering or the detritus of the late 1900's - we shall see.
If you would like to follow this 'adventure' on Twitter, I can be found both under @mtbgirly, where updates on this ride will live, and also under @loulouk where social media mixes with general commetary on life. I try to be funny, I fail 99% of the time.
I appreciate for most of my mountain biking addicts, 127 miles over 3-4 days is pathetic. I've been biking properly for 6 or 7 months now, and I'm a very big lass whose blood pressure a year ago was skating dangerously close to 'high'. I don't want to hurt myself, but I do want to do this so very very badly.
Right, enough waffling. Onwards.
