This route has some very pretty scenery for an evening’s run, with a bit of everything, country lanes, lakes, quite steep hills and a very fast finish.  What Charlie does not tell us about covering five and a half miles in 15 minutes, is that apart from a 200 yard uphill slope it is all downhill, furthermore, unlike today, there were no traffic lights passing through Bolton.

I suppose we should let him off though, he had a heavy ‘delivery boy’ type bike with no gears and straight handlebars which he made do with until the Spring of 1925 – Bless.