The weather is cold and windy this afternoon, and a broken lamp clip caused us some delay so that it was 5.30pm before we got astride the bikes. Up Blackburn Road we struggled to Belmont Road, then along the stiff incline. At Belmont we had to walk up the steep hill through the village, and then it is a climb for two miles. We dropped into Withnell at a terrific speed, and pedalling up the next hill, we eventually reached Hoghton. Now it was a long drop into Walton le Dale, and after crossing the Ribble Bridge, we mounted the hill into Preston, and storing our bikes at 7pm, we mingled with the happy throng.

Mounting a grandstand, we waited for an hour, then our tummies called and we went in search of something substantial. Then another wait in the terrific crush, and at last the procession came along. ‘Here we come’ was the heading, and they did come. ‘Dragons’ and pre-historic monsters were the order of the night, whilst ‘cannibals’ ‘policemen’ and gruesome looking ‘devils’ added to the amusement of the crowd, and we were held in a paroxy of uncontrollable mirth from 9.30pm to 11pm. Following the crowd down Friargate we came to the square before the town hall, where everyone was assembling for the mayor’s speech at midnight, but getting fed up of waiting, we returned slowly to our bikes. At 11.30pm, we were on the road. How the cold air hit us! At Bamber Bridge we were held up at the level crossing for 15 minutes, and the roads were packed with outward traffic. We slid through Chorley and Horwich, arriving home at 1.45am.

41 miles, time on road 3.75 hours