There's a good ride out through the Trough over to Quernmore and back down shadowing the A6. The drawback is having to ride the A6 for a few miles. It's also probably better to reverse the route and climb the Trough from the easier (!) side, if only for the fabulous descent afterwards.

There's no need to go on the A6 at all on that ride. If you come off the Jubilee Tower road and head south for Bay Horse you pick up route 6, which you can follow through Scorton all the way south to Preston or cut off at Grimsargh if you want to go further east. Or you can avoid Jubilee Tower by taking the first left after the top of the Trough and meeting route 6 in Scorton.

cheers, my legs had gone by then though, i'm not in the best shape at the moment! Defo gonna try and get up that direction at the weekend. Lancaster maybe a bit of a stretch! The cafe at Dunsop Bridge appeals though.

thanks. never heard of Strava but i'll look it up. I'll have a go at the Lancs cycle way

The cafes in Chipping and Slaidburn are better. To ease your way back have a look at national cycle route 6 - it goes north from Preston to Lancaster along the Bowland foothills.

Beware the Lancs cycle way. Beyond Whalley it gets seriously lumpy. Although if you go the other way it's flat as a pancake for a long way.

The A59 is a road to be avoided along its whole length on a bike. Luckily there are plenty of alternatives. For your ride you could have followed the Lancashire cycle way from Mellor over to Ramsgreave & Wilpshire station then back up over York to Whalley. Lumpier than the A59 but pretty quiet and a fabulous long descent not Whalley.

If you're on Strava you should be able to see my rides all over Lancashire over the last few years.

Anyway back to the Cycling, Tour of Britain passing my front door at least once on Monday the 7th September as it passes through Whalley twice, Last time it came through Whalley there were quite a lot of spectators although it was a Saturday, so I would expect the pubs to be busy.

I need to have a good look to plan where the best place(s) will be to see the race. Ideally the top of a hill followed by the finish in Colne. Still, plenty of time to sort it yet.

Noone can convince me Ballance is better than KP.

Would that be the same KP that has just managed 2 against Lancs?

It's now widely reported that Trevor Bayliss is about to be appointed as England's new coach.

Indeed and for a few diners you wouldn't ever need to but if it's a large party then I really can see both sides. Lots of planning and 'prep' involved in catering. Anyway very often for a large function like a wedding or Christmas Party there is a choice of menu to be made months before.

We booked a table of 12 last Saturday at the New Holly in Forton and were asked to order in advance (for 2 courses anyway). All went very smoothly with the food for everyone coming out together. Food itself was OK but nothing special.

The size of the contract is irrelevant. The point is he was told that if he gave up his contract and scored runs for a county he would be considered for England. He has kept his part of the contract/agreement and the ECB have reneged. Some trust they have showed. You can't trust them as far as you can throw them.

You don't find nastier pieces of work than Wayne Rooney but nobody tries to ban him from playing for England.

KP is simply the best cricketer who qualifies to play for England and the establishment don't like it. I hope they get royally stuffed by both Australia and New Zealand. If that makes me a traitor to my own country so be it.

Don't be silly, for course he's not. Maybe he was a few years ago but not now. As Chaddy points out, Jimmy Anderson would be my outstanding England player at the moment, followed closely by Joe Root.

The size of the contract is important - if he had had one as he has had previously he would never have bothered coming back. And he's off to the IPL now anyway and isn't available for the tests against New Zealand. Is he allowed to pick and choose which tests he plays in?

As far as I'm aware there was no contract or agreement. He was told that the best way to get back into the England team would be to get his head down and make some runs. I'm not aware that there was a promise that if he made runs that he was in. Plenty of other cricketers make plenty of runs in the early season and don't get picked. Bear in mind his 355 was against a team that have not won a county game in over two years.

Gary Lineker, Graeme Smith and Geoffrey Boycott don't agree with Strauss and the ECB - that's 3 more reasons to support them.

All of which affects his ability to play cricket how? He was asked to curtail a very lucrative contract with the IPL and to join an English county to prove he could still bat, all of which he has done and now the snobs at Lords have reneged. There will be repercussions when England get stuffed by Australia and struggle against New Zealand. Serves the idiots right.

No he wasn't - he was only offered a modest contract this year.

I have a friend who lives near him in London. He is a complete and utter to**er and he should not be anywhere near the England team. The Independent reported this morning that he's going to the IPL for the knockout games and he would not have been available to play the tests against New Zealand anyway. So much for committing to county cricket. Strauss says that he can't be trusted and that's exactly what my mate has said about him.

Was it closed roads Paul?

Wonderful effort in what i imagine were horrible conditions.

My experience at Ride London last year was somewhat similar although nothing like the climbing you did. 84 miles in the back end of a hurricane, but still hugely satisfying passing thousands all along the route.

I've just checked on Strava and I think my biggest ride for climbing is c5,500'.

My guess would be Paul as I know he has been round there.

I've been back a week from two weeks in Mallorca - 500km and 5,000 metres of climbing, including my fourth time up Sa Calobra. Wonderful riding as usual and every time we go we find more fantastic food and drink.

It's not road tax though, it doesn't exist. It's vehicle excise duty and that's calculated on the CO2 emissions from your car. Yours costs you £200, my car costs nowt and neither do my bikes.

It doesn't really matter whether you drive or not. Road tax, a tax on road users to pay for the upkeep of roads, was abolished in the 1930s. Since then roads have been paid for out of general taxation, so every taxpayer contributes whether they use the roads with a car, bus, bike or just walk.

It sounds like a considerably more enticing prospect than Leeds away Paul!

The second stage of the Tour of Britain on 7th September will be a circle from Clitheroe to Colne.

Excuse me for obeying the law. Maybe the law makers have looked at the law and decided it's working perfectly fine?

If there's enough pedestrians in the road though it works, as can be seen after every home game on Livesey Branch Road. Also if I walk in the road and you come along and knock me down, whilst it won't be good for me, it won't be great for you either.

Wish I had a pound for every time I've seen a cyclist say that old chestnut when they get under the feet once more. Might be legally true but that's as far as it goes. Certainly not less of a hazard, especially when there's a bunch of them. Theno has it right.

What do you mean by getting under the feet Al? It sounds like you just want to do what you want, no matter whether it's legal or not. Is that how you act in other circumstances as well?

As far as I'm aware anyone has a right to be on a public highway unless specifically excluded (e.g. motorways). Further to that pedestrians have priority, followed by horses, then cyclists and then motorised vehicles.

Single cyclists on country roads are rarely a pain. It's when there are dozens of them out together that they become a hazard to cars.

I get the impression that you believe that anything that gets in the way of you driving your car should not be on the road. Cyclists have just as much right to be on the road as car drivers and are considerably less of a hazard.

I can see the attraction of a few days riding out by yourself too. Most of the riding I do at home is by myself rather than on club rides. But it is nice to be out and about in the Tramantuna mountains with lots of other cyclists and very few cars, even if most of them are passing me.

I don't think going midweek makes a huge difference at this time of year in Mallorca Paul. I'm told there are 30-40,000 cyclists arriving every week about now, so they're coming all through the week. Don't go if you like to ride by yourself!

That may well be true - my experience is only really in Mallorca. I was at Toulouse airport a few years ago the day before the etape du tour. We had flown KLM via Amsterdam and they had left our bags there (I didn't have a bike). Whilst in the office reporting the loss a stream of cyclists came in looking for their bikes including a group from Canada. Their bikes would not be there for 24 hours which rather defeated the object of bringing them for the etape - imagine how they felt.

Certainly there is no advantage at Palma airport in having a bike box, especially at this time of year as there are so many coming in. The last time I was with Alex waiting for his bike we waited for ages at the point where they usually come out, only to find it later by itself by a completely different belt

I always hire. It usually costs £50 to take a bike on the plane plus the cost of whatever you put it in, plus the hassle of taking it apart and putting it back together twice, plus the risk of it missing the plane, plus having to only take hand luggage or pay for another bag as well. Against that i can hire a decent quality road bike for 70-100 euros a week.

Having said that my son usually takes his, although he has a good box to transport it in - Christmas present from his parents!

It's been a gorgeous day for a ride today. Had a little pedal up to Garstang to have a look at how our new boat boat is coming along.

Off to Mallorca a week on Friday for 2 weeks with plenty of cycling included.

Just back from a wonderful week's cycling in Mallorca. 350km and 5,500 metres of climbing, trying to keep up with my son and his mates. Mind you they have trouble keeping up with me on the descents.

They also have the Fenwick Arms at Claughton near Lancaster and now the Farmers Arms in Great Eccleston.