The nice thing about long distance cycling is that you see places where you would never get by other means of transport or recognize as you rush by too fast. But this also has a drawback: you see places where you would never get or recognize as you rush by too fast. Ugly places, boring places. I had plenty of both in the last few days. The landscape after the Cottswolds didn't change much, small hills, fields, worthless, desparate country towns. As i expected this to continue to Liverpool/Manchester and i recounted that i'd rather spend my short time relaxed in the Lake District and Scotland rather than rushing through central England and Scotland in the end i decided to jump into a train in Kidderminster and go to Manchester (It was a 50/50 decision between Liverpool and Manchester but the train to M. was earlier and the clerk at the station said he likes it more).

It was a painful decision as i would have loved to go all the way to Edinburgh on my own and it means to give in, but it was the reasonable decision as i also have to take care about my mental health and rushing everyday without rest to reach the goal would not have been wise.
So i boarded a crowded train via Birmingham and saved about 2 days of cycling. Manchester was a nice and surprisingly quiet place. It obviously is a smaller and less hip place then London(I guess nothing in the world will beat London from my Point of View anymore) but i met some welcoming young people in front of a pub and enjoyed the social.