So we finally made it. It was a long hard day.

 

We set off from our Edinburgh office at 7.15am seen off by a number of our colleagues and the skirl of the Scottish pipes. A small detour up by the castle and down the cobbled (not appreciated by the road racers) Royal Mile to give the Queen in Holyrood Palace a passing wave (she is in residence this week). It was a magnificent site with 60 cyclists in their new BlackRock cycling shirts.

 

The First 75 miles was fine apart from nearly crashing into a sheep at 40mph on a nice downhill stretch in the Borders! The weather was fine and sunny with beautiful scenery through the Scottish Borders. Lunch came surprisingly early , 50 miles in at Swinton. From there it was only a few miles to crossing the Tweed and the English border at Norham Castle. The roads then got smaller and more rutted with stones, mud and gravel. Some of the super slick road racer tyres didn’t appreciate this and there were a number of punctures but none for our team.
The last 33miles through Northumberland was tough. Head into wind, , pot holes, gravel, a ford and then a long busy A-road full of speeding Geordie plumbers 6” away from you, that was not pleasant. Other highlights included an aggressive terrier that had a fun afternoon attacking various of us as we passed his farm. The fast peloton were held up in Alnwick as The Duke of Northumberland’s Border Hounds were on exercise across the road. But we eventually made it, all 108 miles. The first elite peloton riders  arrived at 3pm (after stopping for tea and cake in Alnwick!) including a colleague from Hong Kong on his £10K carbon fibre wing with electric gears!

 

 

 

Joe Williams was first to arrive from our team at around 4pm although he had stopped for a beer in a nearby pub first. I arrived, led by my 15 year old son Angus, at 4.20pm. , Stefan+wife Jenny, arrived  at 5pm along with Zac and shortly followed by Hannah and another colleague from London on his collapsible Brompton commuter bike, have to admire him.

 

The question then was where was  Lynn+Kathleen, last seen coming out of Edinburgh in the morning. The organisers reported they were in good spirits , averaging 10mph and to expect them around 7pm. They did magnificently and despite the offer of a lift duly arrived at 7pm pedalling hard, nearly 12 hours in the saddle, a magnificent effort
A few beers last night . All tired this morning, a full English Breakfast was very well received followed by  a quiet journey back by train to Edinburgh. We were shocked to hear that 2 Fund Managers from Aberdeen Asset Management were tragically killed the other day on a charity cycle from Lands’ End to John O’Groats. Our thoughts and sympathies go to their families and colleagues. Unfortunately cycling on British roads is a dangerous game.

 

Safe travels and best wishes to Joe Williams and Hannah Lee who carry the Fundamental  equity flag onwards to London along with 50 other brave BlackRockers from across the world.
Good luck to Luke Chappell  for the last 2 days from Lincoln to London and David Tovey doing the glory day from Cambridge to London.

 

Thank you for everyone’s generous support . Fundamental Equities has now raised over £36,000 for Whizz Kids with more due to come.

 

This will be transformational for many handicapped children to provide them essential mobility and support.

 

 

 

 

 

Many, many  thanks for all your help and support

 

 

 

Nigel & Team