Wednesday, 27th June, 2012

Eyemouth to Beadnell (south of Seahouses) 44 miles Today we said goodbye to Scotland and entered England after over 400 miles on the road. Having cycled through the Scottish borders myself during two previous ene to end rides, I knew what to expect, but did not let onto Jack as we climbed out of the small busy fishing port of Eymouth after a comfortable evenings rest. Although tired Jack was in good spirits, telling me about previous family holidays in Northumberland and I think he can now see that there is an end in sight. At times this week I have told Jack what he wants to hear, like 'just one more hill Jack' or the 'end is just around the corner'. Unfortunately, today was the first day that I felt Jack had, had enough of cycling and that the efforts of the last couple of weeks were starting to catch up with him. I love cycling in Scotland, and as soon as we crossed the border into England things deteriorated quickly. For example we encountered a couple of motorists passing to closely and at speed, something we have not been accustomed too, until now. Ironically, as we entered Berwick upon Tweed, a sign read 'Berwick upon Tweed welcomes cyclists'. The city centre was totally un cycle friendly, the no.1 cycle path crossed the A1 by foot (which was interesting). This was because of the refusal of a local Berwick farmer to allow cyclists to cross a bridge on his land. We asked him, and he refused even though we told him Jack was disabled. The signs on the cycle path also deteriorated, resulting in some extra miles for Jack. But the worse thing was that the no 1 cycle path turned into a muddy path for about six miles which caused Jack massive problems because he was unable to keep his bike upright along the seaside path. This resulted in Jack taking several tumbles and made for a long afternoon and our average speed dropped below 9 miles an hour. Unfortunately, by the afternoon Jack was cursing his bike and every pedal stroke was a struggle again. In truth, conditions although damp were ideal (apart from the muddy bits) with very light winds and a relatively flat terrain. Despite the cloudy weather, so far we have been blessed with little rain and the temperature has been ideal for Jack given his inability to cycle and drink out of a water bottle. If we had had the wind and rain that other areas of the country had sufferd from, I dread to think where we might be today. As it stands we have a relatively short ride to Creswell tomorrow and will be at St James's Park at 4pm on Saturday. We have also cured the phone problem that Jack has had when ringing home. Because of his illness Jack struggles to use a mobile phone and has been using my smartphone with difficulty, cutting off calls when he touches the screen with his ear. In fact he has accidentally rung people on my address book that I have not spoken too in ages! We've cured this by now using the speaker phone, much to Jack's relief. Tomorrow, we are off to Creswell to meet up with Jack's mates Alan and Brian of the Blakelaw Club who have generously given a caravan for the night which is a very generous gesture.