Buy the same make and similar models of bikes , that way all the parts should
be interchangeable , if someone packs in cycling you have plenty of spares !

Phil and teds , plenty of seating options and can take a buggy board later

Where there any buses going past at the time ?

Most buses now have CCTV on and might have captured something

£500 gets you a mac mini , ok you need to add a mouse , keyboard and monitor but you might already have these.

I have mine connected to my 42″ TV in the front room with a logitech keyboard with built in trackpad

Not for everyone but it’s a very capable machine and silent

John Scalzi has written some good books

Some Parts of Chorley are ok , Eccleston for instance is good enough for Bradley Wiggins
Heapey , Rivington , Horwich are all close to M61/M6/M65 but still in the countryside

30mins by train into Manchester

If you ride MTB then you have healey nab and rivington on your doorstep

try myyahoo , you can import your igoogle settings
works fairly well

iphones can be tracked from a webpage

go to icloud

then click on find my iphone and enter the iphone users credentials

Android phones using newish software can be also be tracked from a webpage

devicemanager

either option is baked into the os , no extra apps are required

I would keep hold of the old macbook , use screen sharing to connect to control the mac mini

my mac mini is always on under the tv and I use streaming movies , music around the house to other devices via Plex media server

@xherb All Arriva buses have CCTV fitted with external cameras , report the incident and the driver might be investigated

Up to Settle and then on to Ribblehead viaduct , great views on a clear day

Think you come back to Settle on the same road though.