Overnight rain stopped briefly as I packed the tent away but started again as I was setting off. I was on my way a bit earlier that usual as this is my last day and I had to catch a train at Norwich. Most of the way would be narrow country lanes and I was fortunate that not much traffic was about. The low thick cloud meant that it was fairly dull so I had my front light on ‘blink’. The village names of places far from home are always interesting because of their unfamiliarity. Strumpshaw and Postwick sound like places from a children’s television programme. The lanes would have been much nicer if the weather had been better but with rain it was better to plough on and get to Norwich. Yesterday I’d had an uncomfortable ride along the A47 and now I was approaching it again. Fortunately I crossed over it and headed in to town on the A1242 which was relatively quiet for a Monday morning. Suddenly the Railway Station appeared on my left and took much less time to reach than expected. I was very early but hoped to spend some time having a look around Norwich.

Gloomy morning near Strumpshaw

Norwich Railway Station

As the rain was quite heavy I decided it wouldn’t be wise so went into the station to check the trains. Because East Midland Trains require an advanced booking to take a bike on their trains I’d got a ticket for the 09:57 to Manchester. When I checked the tickets I’d been issued with last week when I bought them from Chorley Railway Station I noticed there were tickets for my bike (Manchester – Chorley) but not (Norwich – Manchester). I asked at the ticket desk for advice. They told me there were no spaces available for my bike on the 09:57 or 10:57 and I should go to the Information Office for further help. Fortunately Elaine at the Information Desk was very helpful and said if I came back at 08:45am she’d have a word with the guard on the earlier train, the 08:57, to see if I could get on.

My ticket didn’t become valid till after the 9am off-peak watershed. True to her word she got me and my bike on the train. Phew! What a stroke of luck and I was now an hour ahead of schedule. As I have a talk to give in Fleetwood tonight that was a great relief. In Manchester I changed trains to get back to Chorley. There were 2 of with bikes getting on and the annoying thing was that the train was crowded and two old people were sat in the bike section of the carriage. We pointed out that there were other seats available but they wouldn’t move. Eventually they moved and after Bolton things were less crowded. I got to Chorley OK and rode home in pouring rain.

Some people still think this area is for sitting down