Big up and big shout out to my home boyz...Kath and Tart for taking care of us, supplying us with Vimto, amazing home cooked food and incohol (hic) ...oops and not forgetting the home baked Victoria sponge and smarties ice cream!! We had a wonderful relaxing evening...thanks guys. And a very special hello and thank you to the kids - George, Annie-Grace and Connie for being so wonderful!!We left Wigan after our cuppa and bacon balm cakes (as said in Wigan - butties to the rest of us) in gorgeous sunshine and this only got better/hotter as the day went on. The roads were fairly flat and helpful to us today so we motored on and covered over 20 miles very quickly. We were in Warrington before we knew it and had the welcome of the journey so far and this is the title of the blog. As we rode out of Warrington a elderly gentleman with a bulbous red snout and who obviously had meths on his cornflakes for breakfast shouted across to us (children turn away now) from the other side of the road "YOU DAFT B******DS" and the irony of it was we had NO COMEBACK (i.e. we couldn't disagree with him!). We continued with our ride onto Whitchurch where we met the the support team and had lunch. We met another guy at lunch who was doing the LEJOG mostly on his own over 3 weeks...total admiration for him as this is hard enough with support never mind doing it on your own. The ride was again fairly OK today and uneventful until the last 4 miles when we were looking for the campsite and started to hit some very steep hills...after 75 miles this was definitely tough and particularly one which was almost vertical!! We eventual arrived at the campsite which is the best yet by far, we arrived at 5pm which has meant we can have our first BBQ, sit in the sun and fully relax. The campsite itself is extremely nice, as it says on their website the facilities are exceptionally clean and new with the shower being the best have had so far (http://www.kenleybarn.co.uk/).
We have now completed around 650 miles of the challenge we have also map 3 (Ordinance Survey Maps of the UK) today and are halfway down map 4 out of 5. Tomorrow we had to Monmouth which means we are a day away from south of England!! We have looked at the map of Britain tonight and it is amazing how far we have come in 8 days. Damian sees his wife and children for the first time in 10 days tomorrow which is so motivational. It is also Monday and the start of our last week on this challenge. The mood is good and positive tonight and we are ready to tackle the remaining parts of our challenge. Thanks again for all the comments and words of support, it is really appreciated!! Stats for today are mileage covered 83 miles, 5hrs 27 mins riding time and an average speed of 15.3mph. Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow. The smiley milers
Lunch at Whitchurch
Carry on Camping...
Could he be Camper?
12 comments:
Well done for such a great day, especially the steep climb appearing at the end of the ride. Keep that postive mood up it sounds good.
Hey I thought your noses would be quite red and big now with the odd glass you have had, recognised the features did you!!
glad your archilles tendon was a lot better today jen.
Your average was up today, great. This is better than news at 10.
I don't know - you odd midland folk with your funny voices, strange laughs, rituals involving feet in buckets of cold water and rubbing each others legs etc....it's BARM cakes! Not BALM! A BALM cake contains class c drugs and is designed to help you relax, whereas a BARM cake is of course a tasty bread item suitable for filling with any manner of protein / salad combination, available in both soft and crusty varieties UNLIKE A COB, which is larger and comes solely in a crusty finish. Sigh. Completely forgot to secretly fill your water bottles with vimto as a special surpise for you this morning. How disappointing! Great to see you all - keep it up! Really not far that far to go now - Make sure you get something to eat in Ludlow tomorrow - I believe the pork pies there are highly prized. By the way, you're all welcome to come and stay whenever you want - we've never had house guests who left the house far more tidy than when they arrived - plus left us some designer sunglasses and a psp as a tip. God bless you all!
Sounds like an excellent day yesterday. Hoping for the same again today.
You're really doing well.
Loved the pic of Dave burning his sausage!!
Love the Smithies xx
ON BEHALF OF AIMEE
Come on smiley milers! You're doing great! Keep up the good work, no time for beers! Like the pictures, nearly there!
Love from
Aimee
XXXXXX
from Keith
All of you doing "G R E A T" We are all proud of you, keep up the good work. Not so far to go now. Jen if you had those Purple Boots on that you used to have I'm sure it would have helped with your achilles tendon problem. Stick at it me duck, rooting for you.
hi guys,your all doing a grand ride from what i have read so far.sorry to hear about dave but hey the ride must go on.nice to see that there are so many friendly jocks helping you out and giving donations as you go on.keep up the great job you are all doing.
hi again all,looks like the weather has been kind most days.have loved all the picks so far,keep them coming.by the way,hows granddad steve getting on,is he still having a cup of hot chocolate b4 bed.like the name of ur road damo,shud of brought that home with u.good look for the rest of the journey.
Been trying for ages to get a comment on but I must be doing something wrong so I'm putting this one on as a test.
Hurray, that last one worked. anyway, well done so far everyone, you are doing a great job and glad that the weather is holding out for you. Near the final part of your journey now so keep your chins up, you can have a rest next week!!!
To keep you going there will be a bike joke of the day for you!
Damian was walking down the sidewalk one day when his friend, Steve, rode up on an incredible shiny new bicycle.
Damian was stunned by his friend's sweet ride and asked, "WOW! Where did you get such a nice bike?"
Steve replied, "Well, yesterday I was walking home, minding my own business, when a beautiful woman rode up to me on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, 'Take what you want!'"
Damian nodded approvingly, "Good choice. The clothes probably wouldn't have fit."
ON BEHALF OF THE STEADS (or shall we say steadettes)
Deb & James says still cant get internet connection where they are staying, (still in Scotland) It was great to see you all on the Isle of Aarran, made there day to see you while they are on holiday. Mum has kept us up to date with your progress. Well done all of you, just the last leg to go. We will be wishing you on to finish. Jonah and Hannah say good luck too.
Best wishes the Stead's
Very well done from Rowan and Pauline at Kenley Barn and thank you for your kind words about us!
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