Bournemouth to Milford on Sea

A short day just 16 miles to pedal allowed us the luxury of spending time with Irene and delaying setting off until 1.30pm.

Philip and Irene in good spirits.

It was raining when we woke up and raining when we left Bournemouth hospital.  It was also blowing hard and if, at times it had been 'flaming awful June', then today was even worse July.

Just under 2 hours cycling was a real slog, wet from above, wet from the puddles and wet from passing cars and blowing hard along the sea-front.

Philip, rarely, lost all sense of humour and refused to allow photos to be taken of the non-existent view to the Isle of Wight and muttered something about charity bike rides and never again...  Nic, however, was plainly delirious and had decided it was so bad, as her shoes squelched with every turn of the pedals, that it was funny. Jake fretted about his very wet ankle.

We made it to Treetops, Milford on Sea, opened the garage door to store the bikes in the dry to find it blocked by a Fiat Punto.  Grrrr!

Philip off to the shops for the staples -
bread & milk

One load in two more to go.
Washing machine, what a lovely luxury

Within the hour clothes were in the washing machine, Philip was cleaning bikes, Nic was trying to remember how to cook and Jake was watching Wimbledon.  Humour was slowly restored and then massively restored as the team cheered Mark Cavendish to a Stage win in the Tour de France.

Apparently more rain for next 2 days - hard hats on readers, it could get nasty.

Weymouth to Bournemouth

Yes, oh you followers of our schedule, we have made another change.  The team by-passed Swanage in favour of Bournemouth.  Philip's mum is in Royal Bournemouth Hospital so it was decided to add the mileage in order to be able to spend some time with Irene in the evening and early the following day.

It was a lovely sunny day although incredibly windy again.  Jake's stitches and ankle were looking good and the ride was not going to be hilly.

Great  view back to Weymouth &
Portland at the top of the biggest
climb of the day heading to Dorchester

Thomas Hardy country...

The obligatory handing out of mints along a
tranquil Dorset road (flat & straight hooray!)

We were on a cycle route pretty much all day and we had great off-road sections and idyllic quiet country lanes - just what the team needed to ease us back into the routine.

A coffee stop at The Old Granary, Wareham (recommended) and then passing Corfe Castle in the distance as we tracked across the Heath to Studland and the ferry.

Heathland with Corfe Castle in the distance.
Team morale considerably higher than when last
pedalling this bit of road 2 years ago, we were even
greeted by a deer crossing the road just in front of Jake.

The serene surroundings of the first part of
the off-road NCR2

The less serene, more deep sand NCR2 further down
the line.  Not great for bikes, speed or keeping Jake's
cut clean.  

To Studland the ferry, a chance meeting with an enthusiastic triathlete, and along the sea front to Christchurch and the hospital.  Sounds easy doesn't it?  Would have been fabulously easy

but, it was July 1st.  On June 30th, it would have been easy, on July 1st it wasn't.  No Cycling alonbg the NCR2 along the length of the sea-front Poole to Hengistbury Head, July - August, 10am to 6pm.  It must be said that there were people to reiterate this message along the whole route - so we walked.  It is a safety issue but then provision of a safe diversion avoiding the main A35 should also be a safety issue?

Anyway, the hospital was located as was the ward and we were able to spend some time with Philip's mum which was completely unexpected and great for all.  

Just under 50 miles for Jake's first full day of cycling since the accident seemed to have done no harm and Jake was able to have a shower - phew!

Weymouth Day 2 - Venue 6

So, Weymouth the pressure was on today to live up to yesterday's incredibly high standards.

The sun was shining, good start.  We breakfasted alongside a couple from Malaysia who donated £20, fantastic start.  We made it to the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy early, excellent start.


We had 3 objectives, visit the Venue and learn a little bit more about the Olympic sailing sports, meet up with a photographer from the Dorset Echo and finally, do a photo-shoot to mark the fantastic donation made by Hornby to Action for Children and Access Sport.

Claudia was our contact at the Academy and she was brilliantly helpful, in fact the atmosphere at WPNSA was so much more relaxed than at any other venue, despite many teams busy training and competing and today being the final day before 'lock-down'.

We met up with Richard and James the photographers charged with getting usable images for Hornby - they had to take a LOT of pictures!

Jake in Hornby kit outside WPNSA

James, Richard, Jake & Philip
Probably discussing which is their better side.

After a fun photo-shoot, temporarily interrupted by the Dorset Echo photographer taking more pics,  the team headed into the cafe for a quick coffee.

They chatted to Sean, were introduced to Phil & Chris, and before you know it, Jake's signed polo shirt was getting more signatures.

Ben Rhodes and Stevie Morrison signing Jake's Olympian polo shirt.

Philip explaining the finer points of sailing to
Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign, contenders for 2016

We had another great day in Weymouth - ready for the onward journey now.

Weymouth - Part 1, Day 1

Southill Primary School
Ruby, Jake and Amy

What a fantastic start to the day - Jake's huge smile still in evidence after the 2 school ambassadors had greeted Jake at reception with Mrs Brown, the Deputy Head Teacher.

The school was buzzing with Olympic fever and the team were hugely impressed with everything they saw.  There were fantastic, creative displays, lots of Olympic themed work and Year 5 were busy with costumes for an Olympic festival in Weymouth in July.

The school's ambassadors were excellent company and very helpful as were Mrs Brown, who had planned for our arrival with cake sales, non-uniform and Mr Roberts the Head Teacher, who presented us with honorary Olympic wristbands for the Dorset challenge.

Jake was invited to judge the 'sassy scooters and bling bikes' it was a true lift for the whole team and as we left we were presented with £108 collected by the school for the charities!

Jake being presented with a medal and London 2012 gifts

Jake presenting medals to the competition winners.
Well done to everyone!

The team didn't rest here but set off to Portland for another appointment at Royal Manor Arts College and a Year 9 assembly.  Thanks to Mr Dawson and staff, Jake and the team were able to describe the work of Access Sport and Action for Children to the pupils at the end of the week assembly.

Arriving just in time for assembly

How quickly can we get into assembly? 

If we're honest, the pedal up the hill to Royal Manor should probably not have been on Jake's schedule - it's a really good pull!  However, Jake pedalled brilliantly with no ill-effects and the achievement gave us all great encouragement for how the ankle was healing.

The view across Portland and Chesil Beach,
one quarter of the way down the hill.

We returned to The Fairhaven completely buoyed (very appropriate) by the whole day.

Thank you so much Weymouth!