Friday was an amazing day. Starting with Oscar and I riding to Westminster to meet everyone at the start. We arrived at about 06.30hrs and were soon joined by the support cars and all the other riders. There were quite a few of us too. Family, friends and Healix colleagues joined us. Tacye from the BHF came with a start flag for us and other BHF representatives to wave us on our way. Mum and Dad came on the train from Saffron Walden and suddenly all the months and weeks of planning suddenly came to fruition. We were there under Big Ben and ready to go......
We managed to avoid most of the rain and rode along the embankment towards the Kings road where Jussie was the first to wave goodbye and leave us. Then we went over Putney Bridge where Harry had the first puncture of the day. It was to be the first of 6 punctures! My thumbs were aching by the end of the day putting so many tyres back on the wheel rims. Then on to Richmond Park, Ham Common and Teddington Locks before finally crossing Bushey Park and the Healix office in Hampton.
By the time we arrived there was a fantastic spread of breakfast laid on by Dan, Vanessa and Niamh. It was an fabulous sight and most people were tucking into bacon sandwiches and croissants by the time we made it there post puncture repairs. It was for me, a fantastic part of the ride and I was delighted to see people of all abilities riding together. Everyone was riding along and chatting to each other. I did manage a moment at the back to look up and see everyone having a good time and it felt fantastic. Thanks for coming everyone. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
We left Healix to a fine send off from all and headed south in the rain down to just 12 cyclists. We rode south to Chiddingfold and the Crown Inn on the green for some fantastic Doorstep sandwiches with bowls of hot chips which was perfect as we were all soaked by then and ready for a refuel in a warm pub. 20 miles on from Chiddingfold we met Charlie Butcher for one of the worlds best tea stops. It was an idyllic spot on top of a big hill which Scott was particulalry pleased about ;-). Belinda had cooked 2 of the worlds best Lemon Drizzle cakes and Charlie had flasks of hot tea and coffee. We were still damp and soggy from the earlier rain but the sun came out and his make shift aid station on the cricket pitch was a sight to behold for us weary travellers. There's not much that keeps a weary cyclist going further than tea and cake.
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| Lemon Drizzle cake |
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| Elizabeth and Nicolas Beven making tea. |
John Pugh left us here, the lure of Lemon Drizzle cake clearly too much for him. I expect he is currently at Charlies house waiting for the next cake to emerge from the oven. So then there were 11 of us for the last 15 miles to Portsmouth.
The sun stayed out and dried us off and soon we could see the sea and Portsmouth in the distance. The last few miles rolled by and we arrived in Portsmouth at the Nuffield Leisure Centre where we welcomed in for hot showers before dinner in town and then onto the ferry for the crossing to Caen. Our ship sailed at 22.45hrs and by the time we were all tucked up in the cabin it was close to midnight and we were ready for a few hours sleep.
It had been a fantastic day and start to the trip. I for one didnt quite have the legs as it had been a long week in the build up to the event but everyone else seemed to manage fine and we arrived in Portsmouth without incident.
Its now Sunday night and we are in Cholet, France. All safe but not enough time to finish writing the rest of the days blogs tonight. Sorry we are behind with news but I am going to catch up as soon as I can.
Thank you for all your messages of support. We really appreciate it. Time now for bed and recovery, 110 miles tomorrow to Rochefort Sur Mer.
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