Pendle club members Rob Mason, Nick Hirst, Neil Hirst and Steve Howard completed cycling the length of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal on the 31st of July 2011. We will be writing a full report soon. In the mean time we would like to thank everyone who have donated so far & all who helped us along on the the day.

Donations have been greatly appreciated & can still be done through our JustGiving page. It is is simple, fast and totally secure. Click here to view our Just giving page

The money raised is for the East Lancashire Hospice's Roof Appeal. The hospice has helped Rob's family recently during the period of his Dad's illness.

Some 6 months ago I asked my brother Neil Hirst and My Friend Rob Mason if they would like to take on the challenge of riding the full Length of the Leeds, Liverpool canal. It has always been a goal of mine since I was around 14 years old. Rob's friend Steven Howard also joined us to make up the Quartet. We are all into Casual Mountain biking and regularly go to Gisburn forest on a Sunday morning for a ride.

With Rob unfortunately losing his Dad to illness in 2010, I though this would be the ideal opportunity to take up the challenge and for Rob to give something back to the Hospice that cared for his father and family through this difficult time.

Rob contacted the East Lancashire Hospice and set up a just giving page where people could make a donation for this very valuable cause. We were aiming to raise a total of £1000 but people have been so generous that we have exceeded this total greatly and have raised around £1500 in total with donations still being made.

The time came for our epic bike ride where we arrived in Liverpool docklands area at 9:30pm on Saturday evening and checked in to the City B&B. It was a basic place but did the job. After navigating our way up 3 flights of stairs, around a rowdy bunch of ‘Ladies’ from Middlesbourgh on a Hen Do with our bikes and belongings, we settled into our rooms before taking a short walk down to Liverpool to find a pub for a pint as it was Steve’s birthday.

After a swift pint we strolled back to the B&B and got some sleep for the mammoth task ahead. Some of the Hen party decided to come in at 2am and you could say they were a little loud but we would get our own back.

4am. we awoke to the sound of the alarm clock, we dragged ourselves out of bed and got ready for the longest bike ride we had ever attempted. Once we had managed to get down the 3 fights of stairs which were no wider than the handle bars we open the front door of the B&B to find the rest of the Hen party stood on the other side just arriving back at the B&B from the night out. They thought we were mad but wished us luck on for the journey ahead.

We set off in search of the canal which was around half a mile from the B&B and arrived at the start of the canal in Liverpool at 4:50am. We took a couple of pictures and set of at 4:55am with a 127.25 mile of canal ahead of us.

We reached our first checkpoint at 8:50am. Robs Mum & sister met us with food and refreshments at Wigan pier. The first stint was not with out incident as Rob managed to come off his bike 3 times the third being quite a bad fall just before we reached Wigan.

M6 Motorway

DW Stadium - Wigan FC

Once we got to Wigan Pier we realized the extent of the damage. Apart from badly grazing his arm and landing on his knee he had damaged his bottom bracket on the rear derailleur and his front brake caliper had been pushed across causing his pads to bind.

After a 30min stop at Wigan we set of in search of our next destination which was Blackburn. Just before we got to Blackburn we met two of Rob and Steve’s Friends who cycled to Accrington and Nelson with us for support. We arrived at Blackburn at 12:10pm and Popped round to Gordon’s to top up water bottles ETC before resuming our ride.

By 1:00pm we had reached the half way point at church near Accrington some 8 hours after setting off from Liverpool. Things were looking good and we were on target.

As we got to Burnley we were met by Russell and Luke Starkie who rode with us up to Barden Mill and then waved us through at Nelson later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

M65 Motorway near Burnley

Nelson

We then arrived at our next planned stop which was at the Smales family House boat situated just before Foulridge. We came round the bridge where they all were, stood waiting for us with party poppers going off everywhere. They kindly offered us refreshments which were much appreciated. It was the support of people like this that kept us going.

We reached Foulridge at 15:55pm which is the highest point of the canal. Where we were met by our family, from here we made our way over to Skipton. In my opinion this stretch of the Leeds, Liverpool canal is the nicest part. We also had our Dad join in on the ride at this point for encouragement.

Once we reached Skipton we were starting to feel it as the previous few miles were the hardest part, with the canal tow paths being very uneven and rough it was taking it out off us a little, we stopped and had some refreshments and geared our selves up for the final stretch.

The next few miles towards bangle were no better, the paths got rougher and tougher but we battled on and once we got the Bingley the Canal paths smoothed out to our relief.

We finally got down to the last 10 miles and by this time the day light was disappearing so we knew we had to up the pace a little to try and finish before total darkness fell. At this point we were counting down the miles and each mile seamed like an eternity. We then came across a sign that told us 3 miles to Leeds. In 15 minutes we would be in Leeds which was a relief as it was around 9:50pm and was really dark. Luckily Steve had brought a head torch with him so we had a little light but just then in the distance we saw a Man in a High Vis vest. As we got Closer we could see that it was a Police officer standing in front of a closed off tow Path.

As we approached the Officer he told us that the tow path was closed. We couldn’t believe our luck. Fortunately we got directed around the scene through some fields along side the canal and met his colleague on the other side who directed us back onto the canal.

By this time, some points we were riding blind under the shadow of the trees and bridges. Just as we thought we were home and dry Rob Mason was out in front and had other ideas. Just as we came out from under a railway bridge Rob came across a piece of tow path which was half missing. He Shouted to us, ‘watch out for this…………..’ but by this point i heard a big splash and saw Rob clinging onto the canal bank with his bike also in the water. We rushed over to help. Neil pulled him out of the canal along with his bike. Luckily he wasn’t injured and it hadn’t dampened his spirit. He got straight back on the bike and carried on.

With two miles still ahead of us we decided to slow the pace down a little to avoid any further accidents.

We finally reached the city lights at 10:21pm where Neil and my Mum along with Step Dad Sean were waiting for us with Robs Mum. It was a fantastic sight and after 127 miles we still had it in us to sprint to the finish.

In all we covered a total distance of 131.95 miles, with an average speed of 10mph with a ride time of 13:08hrs and total time of 17:26hrs.

We would like to thank all who have donated and supported us, you have all made a difference.

We would especially like to thank my mum & Sean and Robs mum and sister for supplies on the move, also Gordon Dunn for putting up with us when we arrived unannounced at his house for water top ups!

Thanks again from
Nick & Neil Hirst, Rob Mason, And Steve Howard