Day 11 - Sunday - June 13th

Poignancy comes to the ride

Follow where we have been with Gavs Garmin !- Click on the link http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36774671

Today's ride was a short ride!!! 62 miles........only! Little bit of a lie in for the team today, breakie at 8.30, a comfortable nights sleep had by all in Staffordshire's Conference room, and an early night for most of the team.

Bit of a rush to pack up and go on our way to The National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas. Once all arrived safe including Rosie and yet another puncture (6th), We met up with Major Dougie Brown and SSGT Lee Davis from Abingdon Station (Dalton Barracks) as well as Dino's family paying him a surprise visit arranged by our lovely Princess. Also to met us was Arther and Julie Jordan as our official paparazzi. We're still not sure who has the biggest lens!

Most of us didn't know what to expect but all we can is it was emotional. We visited the Fire and Rescue Service Memorial first and laid a wreath and held a 2 minute silence, having our army colleagues in with us was poignant and very moving.

We then moved on to look at the other memorials and finally ended up at the wall of remembrance which remembers all of those killed on active duty in the armed forces since the 2nd world war. The fact that everyone of us especially our army colleagues knew one or more names on the walls, which moved most of us to tears and brought our aches and pains into perspective and reminded us why we were undertaking our epic journey.

On a lighter note, we rounded off our visit with lunch in the car park with our guests, far to say the star's of lunch were Dino's daughters who made Tea and served food fantastically. They clearly don't take after their father! :-)

We left the Arboretum at 1.30 feeling rather full for the final 37 miles of the day. The route took us through the delights of Birmingham city centre through to Redditch Fire Station. far to say this route was more challenging although short and several near misses were narrowly avoided. At this point it was still dry however as The Coffee Club (Laonie, Josie, Danny, Simon and new member Owen) hit the city center a storm approached and they were forced to take shelter in the nearest Starbucks (Other coffee establishments are also available in the Bullring!!)As there penance for having Grande Cappacino the entire contents of the lake district were dumped on their group along the A4421 all the way to Redditch.

As all the others had arrived some days (minutes) earlier, Toby, Jon and Pete commandeered the Comms van to go back out on the route to support (laugh) at a very wet but still smiling coffee club. All had made it finally to station by 6.15. Hot showers ensued except for Laonie who has a training need in how to make the shower hot.

By this time we were being looked after by Jon Laight (ex Banbury wholetime) who is the on duty watch manager and Princess was putting the finishing touches to tonight's extravaganza of Chicken Korma and Sheppard's pie followed by Fruit salad and Ice cream. Now the coffee club are back it has stopped raining and all is well with the world.

Plan for the evening is a bit of footie and a bit of washing and then off to dream land.

We're looking forward to getting to Banbury and Kidlington to see everyone tomorrow and to get lots of sympathy for our aches, pains and Danny's knee.

Statistics if your interested,

• Sore knees - Pete, Laonie and Phil
• Very very sore knees - Danny
• Collision with car - Dino.
• Falling off bike - Pete, Josie, Laonie &Toby
• Attempting to cycle on motorway (Bob & Rosie)
• Fastest motorbike - Kev
• Blisters in places you wouldn't want them - Dino & Andy
• Most bikes broken or re built - Toby
• 22 punctures to date, Rosie in the lead with 6, No punctures for Pete, Toby, Simon, Dino, Danny, Mike.
• Best Chef - Princess.

Following the Ride...

With over half the ride completed, don't forget that as well as reading the blog you can also follow the ride on...

Flickr - now over 200 pictures to view!
Twitter - updated regularly with some amusing little snippets
Facebook - our Facebook Group and Discussion Board

...and you can access the complete list of Gav's Garmin activities with the following link:

http://connect.garmin.com/explore?owner=gbr14723

Last but not least, don't forget to sponsor the team using the links below! Your donation, however small, would be greatly appreciated!


   

Links to where we have been

You will see if you have a look at each day of the blog that we have added the weblink to the information from Gavin Tilsons Garmin unit (Bit of tech that tells him how far, how fast, etc)

From this you can see the exact route we took, and for real fun how Gav did, how high he climbed, the speed etc.

The link is at the top of each day - just click on it and you will see it

For example todays is at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36496601

The H4H Team

Day 10 - Preston to Stone - 12th June

Many miles, punctures and Bar-B-Que.

Follow our route and see where we have been by the following link, taken from Gavs garmin http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36587489

Following on from the last post after dinner last night, as mentioned yesterday was Owens Birthday. In true style, Princess had duly provided a cake and to celebrate for the remainder of the evening we all shared a carton of orange juice and exchanged pleasantries . Actually Tour Guide Toby took those of us that were still awake to see the highlights of Preston, and a grand job he did too.... Luckily, the old pubwatch posters have been removed, so Toby wasnt troubled through the evening.

Preston Station had kindly given up the recreation room for us for the night, and eventually everyone made it in, and turned in for the night. Some slightly later than others........

The first risers (Bob) were up at 5am (its an old age thing we think), and eventually everyone had surfaced by 7am. Luckily for us the station had no shouts in the night so we were left to slumber through.

Breakfast was another of Princess's feasts served up in the stations mess room, and as a little teaser for later, sausages were on the breakfast menu along with the usual spread of porridge, yoghurt's, fruit, cereal, croissants, etc.

Today we probably the first more challenging day for navigating more than anything else - first out of Preston, and then down through Wigan, Warrington on the A6, and then over to Stone, finishing at Staffordshire Fire HQ.

Everyone managed to get away fairly well after 9 after another of Bobs photo shoots. First amusement of the day once Andy and Julian had got all the vans manoeuvred and set up in the rear Yard, was Bob cycling back round - saying "where are you - we are doing it around the front...........!"

A selection of England flags were duly attached to various bikes and the vehicles to show our support!

The weather today was fine, and by lunchtime the point of sunburn. A much busier day on the roads, and a lot of built up area's but the main thing has to be the number of roundabouts and traffic light encountered, and how nearly every one was red!

Lunch was to be found in the car park of a pub at 37 mile mark - Lots of comments from the riders as to why it was so close to the start as we were doing 88 miles today! Suggestions that maybe having lunch before we left the station next time, were met with suitable retorts from Princess, however we know she will discipline the drivers later :) It was up to its usual standard

The remainder of the day after lunch was fairly uneventful for most, although Rosie decided that the best thing to eke out the day would be to have a puncture every 15 miles or so, resulting in three changes in the afternoon.

Some of the groups were spotted (Well it was a hot day) in a local hostelry on the way back, however Toby & Pete had the best result of the day with a free milkshake (and the offer of any other food we wanted) from a little cafe type shop in Nantwich. Having asked what we were doing so far from home, they insisted it was on the house and couldn't have done more. We highly recommend 'Fruitini' in Nantwich!

The final 50 miles although not exceptionally hilly, had some little climbs but the heat ended up making it a bit of a slog and a long ride. However the arrival at Staffs HQ for most around 5pm, to the sight of Julian setting up the Bar-B-Que set everyone up for the evening

A few cool drinks to complete the days ride, followed by a fantastic bar-b-que ensued, and we are now ensconced watching the footie in the restaurant at Staffs. A BIG thank you to Staffs Fire & Rescue who have actually put in a TV so we can watch it tonight.

Little mention has been made so far, but we should not forget Kev 'The Lunchbox' Dell and his Honda motorbike who has been patrolling the roads for us, fixing & repairing but more importantly offering a selection of goodies from his mobile lunchbox. Never has so much food been carried on a bike :)

Not to be outdone Julian Green has also been out and about on the local roads, and can often be seen in lay-bys with his camera out.......

We are still waiting to hear how much has been pledged to have Julian's moustached removed!

Day 9 - Penrith to Preston - 11th June

The day after the day before

Follow where we have been by Gavs Garmin - Click on this link - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36496601

The first trial of the evening was the discovery by Laonie and Danny that as they had carefully put their small bags uder the stairs at Jubillee house, as it appeared to be a pile of our general bags, that it was acutally just Grahame, Nick and Petes bags, who a few minutes later promptly piled them all in the car to drive home with. Luckily - nothing important in them except Laonies life, make up and various essentials and everything of Dannys that he didnt know he had until he wanted it! In the end this was deposited at Preston station when the theft was discovered, so they have just had to go without for 24 hours :)

A big thank you to both the staff and the current guests at Jubillee house for making us some welcome, for the food and for generally having us. As a way of saying thank you, they held back the start of the quiz into which we entered two teams of four, and we are proud to say we came 1st & 2nd!!! (Well when you come from Oxford - there are expectations!)

Owen was still working out along with Gav an Phil and others until late out the back of the gym carrying out a little maintenance, however most people took around 10 15 minutes to get theirs up to speed. Not to be out done Toby, asked Owen to have a little look at his gears, and 2 1/2 hours later, it was decided the only thing that was going to sort out Toby's problem was a visit to the bike shop in the morning to lavish a good £100 pound or more on a new shifter, cable etc. It is likely that Toby will be riding the same bike when he finishes, but made up entirely of new parts................

A fairly quiet night ensued, as most got their heads down fairly promptly (after the worlds longest raffle, which again we were victorious with, and came away with a lot things we have no idea what they are).....

Back to the early starts (actually we never got away from them - funny that we are up earlier on the rest day than a ride day....)

Today was our first test of our new driving team of Andy & Will, so everyone very helpfully spent a bit of time ensuring they were suitable confused before we left them.

9 o'clock after a group photo shoot, out the front of Jubilee house, saw 12 riders heading for Shap summit, and 3 heading straight for the bike shop, 1 mile 1/2 in the opposite direction. A very enjoyable hour for Toby as his gear was stripped on the pavement in the middle of Penrith using various tools from the bike shop, with a few atmospheric 'ooh's and um's' from Owen as he got it all working again.

The weather has been very nice today, a little cool and damp as we went over Shap, and
Everyone else powered on over Shap summit (which turned out to be ok really) and eventually over an hour to hour and a half, we all passed through the lunch stop at Bolton le-sands Fire Station.

Andy Ford, ever eagle eyed for a fire station, spotted it on the main A6 and pulled in (in the great big furniture village van) and overpowered the watch manager to convince him to let him set up cafe in the drill yard. We are all sure he had no idea what he was letting himself in for.......

Around about 12 o'clock we were out of Cumbria and in to lancashire......

After the bike shop stragglers went through, lunch was quickly packed up, and sent on its way to Preston in the van to meet up with Danny and Laonie's bags.....

Will proceeded to manage to break the van (well he was driving so it must have been his fault), and after having boiled enough water to provide half of Lancashire, the rear compartment battery finally ran flat (it has done 6 days worth) but luckily the only problem this caused was the radio to turn off, and now it needs the radio code.......... Could be a long music less drive for the next couple of days :)

The first boy racers (Dino, Danny, Dino and Andy) were all in the reclining chairs at Preston station by 2.30 (good effort guys), whilst the last rolled around 4.30, having partaken of a scenic stopoff in Lancaster to enjoy the delights of Pennys Cafe.

Bob thought that he wanted more, so had a little 15 mile round trip on the bike to meet the last few in - mad man.......

A fantastic dinner by Princess and the gang at 5.30 of curried chicken, veg, meatballs, pasta, salad, followed by a vat of fruit salad.

Finally it would not be right to end this blog without mentioning the fact that it is Owens Birthday, and so a cake was duly provided, for which he will have to cough up for later....

Tonight see's us staying at Preston Fire Station, thanks to the two watches for their hospitality so far.

If anyone is worried about our physical state we are all pleased to report that the rest day seemed to work, and although we all have one way or the other we all still seem to be alive. Although Toby still seems to be consistently ill and consuing enough medication to supply the entire northwest - but he is manning up!

Day 8 - Penrith (June 10th)

The Rest day (Well sort of)

After the first 5 days of riding our first (and last!) rest day was a welcome break and couldn't have come to soon. We are staying at the Jubilee House Fire Fighters Charity Centre at Penrith for both last night and tonight ready to be back on the bikes tomorrow (Friday)

Last night we took the opportunity to chill out and say farewell to our three stage one support drivers Grahame Davis, Nick Bateman & Pete Savage. All the team would like to say a massive thankyou to them all, and we look forward to seeing ass many of them as possible at Lands End at the end!

After a night in the gym at Penrith for most of us (a few took the opportunity to get away for a night to a local B&B) we were up at 6.45 as unfortunately we had to be completely clear out of the gym as it is in use in the daytime, by 8am.

Jubilee House laid on breakfast (& later lunch) for us and the remainder of the morning after sorting kit, etc saw most of us walking the mile or so into Penrith for a few essentials and a general break! Most could be seen in the cafe at one point nursing a hot drink and a general inability to move far or fast....!

Once we had returned, our new (fresh) stage 2 support drivers Andy Ford & Will Savage had arrived. Then after lunch, and more resting / washing, etc we boarded a coach (yes it was cheaper to hire a coach!) for us to go to a trip arranged by Jon Tilson (One of our cyclists) to the Jennings Brewery at Cockermouth, where they put on a brewery tour and a evening buffet for us (along with some beer sampling - it would have been impolite not to!). Obviously Cockermouth including the brewery was severely damaged during the floods last year, and we saw first hand a lot of the damage and repair work that was going on.

A big thank you to Jennings & our guides for hosting us, & to Jon for organising it. All the team made a personal donation to cover the cost of the tour guides with the balance going to the Cockermouth flood recovery fund.

We are now back at Jubilee house having repacked and tidied the van, sorted bikes, made drinks and prepared for the morning, & taking part in the quiz evening that is currently underway!

Tomorrow - another 75 miles approx down to Preston, having gone over Shap summit. Anyone that hasn't heard of it - google it. Fantastic view (from the top)................

Day 7 – Wednesday – Melrose to Penrith - June 9th

^{The day Owen arrived}

For the full map of where wehave been , etc take a look at gavs Garmin page !http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36496640

The day started with an unusual twist in the tail, with Toby being pursued by two ladies from Australia who are keen Morris Dancers. Never one to shy away from the limelight, Toby was soon entertaining them with tales of the Bampton tradition and how he danced every bank holiday in the village with the longest tradition. Obviously to many of us, this was complete gibberish but they seemed to his village ways…

A full breakfast yet again was on the table by Princess, with bacon as today’s added bonus and over breakfast we compared sores and blisters. Some it must be said are suffering more than others

After the long wet miserable ride that was yesterday morning, today started slightly grey, but quickly brightened up into a fairly fine day. Within minutes the first (but only puncture of the day) occurred about 5 miles out, just to get us back in the swing of things…….

85 miles lay out ahead of us, with the A7 to Carlisle, and then the A6 all the way to Penrith Therapy centre.

The rain held off and it actually brightened up so the next stop was Langholm around 8 miles from the Scottish border, with another spread laid on down by the river.

We all left reasonably close together for the final (and more hilly) climb to Penrith with most going to ASDA at Carlisle where a £425 was yet again raised by Pete, Sim and Taity being the star attraction.

The first riders arrived at Penrith just after 3pm, Andy and Dino being spurred on by the fact that they are no longer able sit down any more……

The Fire Fighters Charity Centre at Penrith had the pool and Jacuzzi on for us, and slowly most that wanted to got a swim or just a chill out in the Jacuzzi…….

An excellent meal afterwards laid on by the Centre of lasagne, garlic bread and fruit salad, topped off the ride.

The time is now 8.35pm and we are all off for a bit of a group hug and to reminince and compare sores…….

Owen arrived around 3pm and has since spent most of the afternoon giving the bikes a thorough service - nice one :)

More pictures should be on the website shortly on flickr when we can get to a part of civilisation with a memory stick that works and a bit of time J – click on the link through the gallery page…

Don’t forget you can follow every live update on twitter, just look at www.twitter.com/heroesride