Thursday, 28th June, 2012

Beadnell (South of Seahouses) to Creswell 32 miles.
Today we took some short cuts and missed out some of the no.1 cycle path in order to give Jack a shorter day and the ability to arrive at the caravan to catch up with his friends Alan and Brian who had donated the accomodation for the evening.
Last night i made the decision to do the same thing, when it looked like Jack was not going to make it to the finish.
The gods must be looking after us, as again, despite the gloomy forecast, we seemed to have missed the worst of the weather today. However, as i write this, the sky is black and we are in the middle of a huge electrical storm and a power cut which has lasted an hour now. Fortunately, its a great place to be marooned, with beer, wine and food in the fridge!
Jack is much happier on his bike now that he can see an end in sight and i never heard him curse his bicycle  once today and you could see his spirits lift as we picked up our first sign for Newcastle, and the sight of double decker bus going all the way to Newcastle.
Astonishingly, he has now cycled over 500 miles, with 34 to do tomorrow, before we reach St James's Park at 4pm.
This morning the landlady of our bed and breakfast donated 40 pounds and the justgiving site is ticking over nicely.
Jack has coped really well looking after himself whilst we have been away and i think it has done him some good, but given the lack of clothing that he brought with him and the few pieces of washing he has given me, i suspect some of his clothing could probably walk back to Brighton on its own!
Also, he has invented a great way to make clothing last, by turning shirts inside out!
Throughout this trip i have avoided using the 'p' word (puncture), but today our luck ran out and i had a puncture on my trailer. However, thanks to Guy, there was a spare tube in the back and we were on our way again in no time all.