Mission accomplished!
What a day, the May 30th dawned clear but windy as we gathered at 5.30am for breakfast in Whitehaven, not knowing at that stage what tradegy would start there the following day. We set off on our bikes at 6am, fourteen intrepid souls with the objective of riding across England, so after dipping wheels in the sea at the marina it was north toward the Solway Firth. Beautiful views out over the water but that strong head wind was certainly a challenge. Across to Carlisle with the wind at our backs and onto Brampton for a lunch stop. Then to Greenhead, Once Brewed and Chollerford, if anyone thinks Hadrian's Wall is flat just try riding along it! Then into Newcastle where the only problem arose simply because someone had organised a two day open air music festival in the City Centre so with roads closed and thousands of people on the streets, our support crew redirected us to South Shields. Unfortunately being some way ahead of the others by this stage, I was in North Shields at the time and so had to find the Tyne Tunnel, a remnant of the City's ship building history, go down a very long wooden escalator, cycle under the river and up another equally long escalator to emerge in Jarrow and so onto the beach at South Shields, where with wheels dipped into the North sea, my ride across England finished. It took me around 9 hours of cycling plus stops for food and drink and I'm pleased to say that all who set off from Whitehaven arrived across the other side of the country safe and well if very tired! Mission accomplished.
My thanks to all who have supported me and for your donations and promises towards the work of Toybox, thoughts of the difference we could make kept me going when things were tough on the ride.
Thank you again.
David Lowbridge