Lets talk route

19th August

Let us talk about the route

The route we took, as I have said, was the CTC YHA route and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to do the E2E. I was to be taken; using this route, on mainly minor A & B roads thought some of the most stunning countryside of the UK. We went down country lanes, along some major A roads, but only for a short distance; we went over beautiful more lands and saw rivers, lakes and beautiful causeways.

Along the route, we tented to eat from a packed lunch eaten at the side of the road and were usually at a battery change stop. People passing us were quite surprised to see me hanging in my hoist while the two guys were busily changing Alex’s batteries. They got battery changes down to six mins.

The appalling road surfaces were a big slowing down factor on this challenge. If you want to see the real state of our roads do by cycle or power chair the E2E. Alex was reduced to about 4/5 miles per hour a lot of the time when he could have been going flat out at 7 mph. If the road surfaces were better then the days target would have been meet a lot soon.

Our target for the day was set by Graham. That was usually between 45/50 miles. No wonder when we got to the second Saturday i was dun in. We had to maintain a high millage in order to finish in the time limit i had set. People had to get back to their proper jobs dogs had to be got from kennels. The usual mundane things that makes life tick on.

Along the route we meet some amazing people. Some where doing the E2E on cycles and would ride with us for a few minuites. Some people would stop us and give us cash.

One person amongst many stopped us just our side Glastonbury and invited us home for tea. We had to decline as we still had many miles to go. A few yards further along the road was a trail back of traffic, a farmer was cutting his hedge. Just after passing him i got a front wheel puncture and pulled into a gateway, it was the home of the lady who had just invited us in for tea...we rang on to our other support vehicle who had the spar tire but was 2 hours away. This meant we had time for tea with our new friend!

All along the route we have marked with green pant the place we have stopped for the end of the days run and gone back to it. Prof that we had been there. This stop we also marked with the ladies permission. We then put me into the back of the van, went to a Tesco's car park and waited for the spar wheel.

After changing the tire we went back up the hill, about 2/3 miles. Said hi to the lady only to find that the paper, vital Prof we had been where we said we had been we have had signed all along the route had been left in her house. Now does that not show that honesty is the best policy. This was just one of many magic moments i can tell you...