Since I last wrote we have been busy. BBC Radio Suffolk kindly gave us a slot on Georgina Rowe's (sitting in for James Hazell,) programme last Thursday, the 18th Feb. This can be heard again at 'Listen again' online and the feedback has been really positive. Since it ran just before we embarked on our first very public training session, we had a good number of people come to see us in Ipswich on Saturday, to say how much they appreciated the programme. Thank you Georgina for helping us.
Just one person benefiting from Samaritans work as a consequence of this will have made the experience worth it.
So we turned up in Ipswich town centre at 10:00ish on Saturday morning and found ourselves confronted with Saturday market day. Our booked space in front of the Town Hall was somewhat overshadowed by the labryinth of stalls, but we made the very best of the huge numbers of people out enjoying the rare sunshine, squeezed as it was between two days of wintery sleet and cold winds.
Give or take the odd trip to 'ease springs', and with the aid of 6 willing volunteers from the local Samaritans office, I managed 6 hours in the saddle on the turbo trainer. I couldn't tell you exactly how far that equates to, since my trip computer is attached to the front wheel. As a couple of observent youngsters pointed out...'you're not getting very far!' but I'm guessing that somewhere between 60 and 70 miles wouldn't be far off.
Over the course of the day the genereous folks of Ipswich donated £241.12 for which we are extremely grateful and more importantly we got to talk to a good many people who were interested both in the work that Samaritans do and the LEJOG challenge itself.
Work on the route has continued apace. Access to google earth has proven invaluable since some of the roads marked on other oute finding maps simply don't exist. On a mountainbike maybe, but not mine with all the clobber she'll be laiden down with. So far I've planned in detail the route as far as Carnforth in Lancashire and a planned stop at the RSPB reserve at Leighton Moss near Silverdale. If you've never been there, it is a fantastic place to watch Otters in the early evening and in the Autumn there is an incredible Starling roost that turns the sky grey and black in a swirling mass of feathers.
Next week I shall be completeing my first back to back cycle days and hope to cover approximatley 300 miles in four days. I'll let you know how I get on.
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