I left my accommodation before eight this morning, picked up some lunch supplies and set off through Preston to join the A6. It was sunny and warm so I soon shed my layers and donned the sunglasses. Near the hospital was a sign announcing that next Sunday the road would be closed for the Carnival. I was so glad that I did not have to do a diversion today. After 2.8 miles I had my first brief rest before crossing the M55 intersection. Unlike the others, this one had a subway for pedestrians and cyclists. There are many villages strung out along the road. My first milestone today was this one:

At one point the A6 was again parallel with the M6 and West Coast Mainline. I even saw a Northern train. This was a surprise as it was a: Sunday and b: they have so many problems with cancellations since they introduced their new timetables. The M6 soon diverts east of Lancaster while the railway enters the city. Several Virgin trains passed me. The old road is now a B road to Garstang while the A6 bypasses it to the west. Just south of Garstang I got my first glimpse of the Pennines.

I was looking forward to seeing the Cumbrian Hills and the Southern Uplands later in my journey. The road crosses the Lancaster Canal and then the River Wyre before entering Garstang, the first Fair Trade town in the world.

I had a cold drink near the market square before finding a bench to eat my lunch on. This was about halfway on today’s walk. After rejoining the A6, I passed through another community known for its service station on the M6: Forton with its Grade II listed tower. It was the second one opened after Charnock Richard. This is not my photo:

What got my attention on this hot day was Hugo’s Ice Cream Parlour which also does breakfast, coffees and light bites. Needless to say, they had 22 flavours but I had vanilla. The walls were decorated with old vinyl LP covers which was a great blast from the past.

After that I had to keep plodding on, resting when there was somewhere to sit down on. Most folks had donned shorts but it was not quite hot enough for the Glaswegian ‘taps aff’. After passing through Galgate and past the University, I popped into a pub for a cold beer. We had a few years ago been driving up to Edinburgh on Hogmanay after James finished work when an accident closed the M6 and we spent three hours crawling through the city before we could rejoin the M6 and get to Edinburgh too late to go out to any festivities. At that point, I remember thinking this would probably be a city to explore but not in this fashion. Sadly, it was not to be on this occasion either. I had only one mile further to walk, downhill to the canal where I was to meet up with James and stay at the Toll House Inn. A historic building that has been renovated two years ago. Disaster struck when suddenly my left ankle became painful and I hobbled down the hill ironically past the Infirmary. I have psoriatic arthritis but have not had an inflamed ankle for 15 years and have been on several walking trips since then so this was a shock. I know that it usually takes 2-3 months for a big joint to settle down (small ones take a few days) so I have had to cancel the remainder of this trip and go home. I must return at some point both to explore Lancaster and finish my walk. I had to content myself with a brief glimpse of the canal and the interior of the hotel.