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Wednesday 15 September 2010

And Finally...

Sue is feeling happy to be home, a little sad to have missed the last day, overwhelmed by the exciting finish line and seeing everyone and blown away (more than on Brighton Cliffs) by the generousity of the good folk at The Pilgrim Inn who raised a whopping £677.18! Official overall total now stands at...£2179.13 plus £242.56 Gift Aid!!!

Just discovered that the winds on the Brighon Cliffs were 25mph, gusting to 37mph!!!! At one point there was a sheer drop on the left hand side of me and a gust of wind (probably 37mph!) hit me and knocked me sideways.. At that point I got off and felt glad to have my feet on terra ferma. I walked for about a mile with my bike up and down the cliffs until i felt safe to get on again. A tough day.

Best cycling moments, include cycling along the promenades in the sun on day 2, where we stopped and people came from all directions to give money to us. Thank you to everyone who donated en route, we weren't prepared for that and had to improvise a donation bag - Louise's pocket.

Car drivers. Yes another great! The Soath Coast is full of cycle friendly drivers, not one caused me to issue an expletive! Sadly a number of pedestrians did as they walked out looking right through us as if we didn't exist or busy texting or rushing and generally not looking.

Scariest moments include negotiating deep pot holes at a moments notice that would have thrown us off, over the handle bars, the windy cliffs and cycling blind down hill praying my brakes would hold whilst the rain misted and drenched my glasses.

The team did great, with Rhod as the mechanic keeping our bikes in A1 tip top riding condition and having enough tools and spares to (almost) build another bike if the need arose. Jane, the one woman fuel and hydration squad keeping us strong all the way, blogger and photographer extraordinaire, map reader and fellow cyclist Louise who's homing pigeon instincts kept us on the right track all the way, Chris and all the staff at The Pilgrim Inn who made the finish line memorable, Richard for the loan of his workhorse to take bikes and all our gear (my little Peugeot wasn't really man enough) and Karen and Debbie for building the diary for the pub - which we'll keep forever as a momento of our great adventure - to add to the list of life's great moments. We couldn't have done it without ALL your magnificent support and sponsorship, on and offline, and raised so much for the SI Foundation xxx

Tuesday 14 September 2010

And they did it!!!




At around 8pm this evening Sue and Louise pulled up to the Pilgrim Inn in Marchwood.

Sue decided to cycle the last mile!
Louise cycled all the way and found the whole thing quite amazing!

Louise said: "I don't actually remember saying yes to doing this!"

Sue said: "With community spirit behind us, we can do anything! What's next? But I'm not organising it!"

The welcome here was truly amazing and was a great welcome back .... great thanks to everyone who met us there (here, as I'm doing this at the pub).

This picture is from the Hythe ferry - the last of 4 ferries on the journey today.

Some pictures of their arrival in Southampton will be posted tomorrow as mine are pretty rubbish!



[Jane]

Lunchtime rendez-vous day 4




It's grim down south ... still not raining at lunchtime, but still ...

A warm pasta lunch and coffee went down well in Hayling Island.

Here Sue and Rhod joined us also and Sue gave Louise some detailed advice on the last miles which involves 3 ferries as well as lots of very small tracks.





I'm currently waiting in Hamble for Louise to arrive on the small pink ferry .... and it's started to rain... Louise is now finding it very hard going. I'm hoping she'll get here before the little café closes and I can get a hot chocolate in for her when she arrives.


Day 4 .... and then there was one ...



So, if you've read the last post you'll know that Sue is unable to continue today.
At 8.30 this morning, Louise set off on her lone journey from Worthing to Marchwood our end point - a 70+ mile journey for this long last step.

It isn't raining but the wind is still very challenging.

I met up with her again just before Bognor Regis at around 10.30am and she re-fuelled.

Our next stop, where we will also meet Sue and Rhod is at Langstone, just before Hayling Island.

If you are in the Hampshire area and would like to come along, we are at The Pilgrim Inn pub in Marchwood this evening.

Meet Dave ....



Dave together with Steve from the Littlehampton paramedic crew had to pay us a visit last night. Completely exhausted after a day battling against the wind and the rain, Sue managed to dislocate her shoulder. This hasn't happened for years but she is double-jointed ....

She was in severe pain ... I've certainly never heard screams like that in real life before. Any move lead to more and more pain. We looked after her as best we could, trying to keep her warm at least.

Then the cavalry arrived in the form of Steve and Dave.
After gas and air, morphine and an hour of gentle coaxing, Steve and Dave managed to get her arm back into the right place and then take a rather shocked and exhausted bike rider off to hospital. Sue and Rhod were in A&E for 5 hours and so were back at the hotel at around 3 in the morning.


Thanks to the paramedics ... I hope your ears have recovered!
(and sorry for the poor quality of the photo!)

End of day 3 - stats

Miles cycled : 178.5

max speed: 35mph

Time : 9.5 hours of cycling that day

Collecitons: £9 collected en route

It was the most difficult day yet.
"Drenched thru, thights killings us. Still smiling and shaking with cold."

Monday 13 September 2010

One drowned rat has arrived ...



"I've never been so grateful for a hot chocolate," she said.

(She's now on her second.)