Today we left Wigan and headed to Garstang.
Today we had Harwood walking with us and Steve walking / providing logistics support.
We left Wigan quite early as today would be a long day. The name Wigan has been dated to at least the 7th century, and probably originally meant a “village” or “settlement”. Wigan was in the territory of the Brigantes, an ancient Celtic tribe that ruled much of what is now northern England. The Brigantes were subjugated in the Roman conquest of Britain and the Roman settlement of Coccium established where Wigan lies.
A fairly uneventful walk for the first part of the morning, not a whole lot of scenery to see other than the nice village of Coppull, a Christmas tree farm and the passing of our 400 mile milestone.
Meandering on we crossed the M6 and M65 (and waited at the level crossing) before heading into Preston itself and buying lunch for a bit later in the walk. The M6 was present for most of the rest of the day and won’t be too far away for a good few days yet. We then crossed the River Ribble as we continued on northwards.
Leaving Preston we stopped at a roundabout and sat down for our lunch – a few funny looks but in all probability the grass in the middle was probably a lot cleaner/safer than that on the verge! A few more streams, churches and canals before we finally glimpsed some “scenery” and made our way to Garstang. As tomorrows route was originally planned at 54 kms we decided this morning to “overshoot” Garstang by 6 kms before getting a lift back to our hotel. We will then start at that point tomorrow thus making the day a more manageable 48 km.
Tomorrow we head to Kendal and a rest day on Tuesday
