After a mad panic the night before to get cleaned up and get to the restaurant before last orders at 930pm we managed to sweet talk the management to allow us to eat, food at the Italian was great and it was nice to be able to unwind and discuss and laugh about all the events of the day... We then went back to the room to have a "Blog Meeting" and to discuss the plan of action for the next day.
We had
breakfast and sorted kit for the days activities and took time to take some group photos before the days riding.
The boys started the ride and Kelvin went to the local Pharmacy & Butcher to get supplies for lunch and pain killers for Stuarts
Achilles heel which was causing him considerable pain.
At Hall Butchers in
Eccleston they very kindly made a donation to Chase and supplied us with very nice free meat...
With the injury Stuart had it was
decided to start the ride at a reduced pace as to not
aggravate more than needed..
As you can see the right
Achilles heel is
extremely swollen and he worked very hard to get through the 1st half of the ride today until the 1st
stop where he iced the heel and took pain killers....
We stopped for a lunch which consisted of a
Mc Kelvin Burger...
The lunch was very much appreciated, as the start of the second half of the day turned to be very challenging with some monster steep inclines. As a team we were all very aware and concerned of the challenge that lay ahead for Stuart but grimacing through the pain the BIG MAN came through with flying colours.
Just before the next scheduled break at
Shap we rode along side Gary who had been
riding since January 1st around Great
Britain viewing all the
RSPB sites..He made us all laugh recounting his travelling experiences..
After this being the last scheduled stop the boys moved on another 40miles to the Scottish Border on route Russell who had kept us all amused with his comic stories developed a ham string strain and repetitive knee strain issues which needed to be addressed. Russell needed to call on Ollie's expertise to get through the rest of the day..