Brands Hatch to Greenwich

We did the whole run, Hadleigh Farm - Brands Hatch - Greenwich in one day.  It was a very, very long day.  However ... we passed the 2000km marker and inevitably, the 2012km marker -WOW!

2000 kilometres

2012 kilometres - the target distance already achieved!

As we finally made it back from Brands Hatch to NCR1 at Bean, it was late and there was a long way to pedal.

The team headed for the Thames Path but this was no paved pathway.  This was the back of beyond or to be precise Dartford Marshes after a lot of rain.

That storm was heading our way.
Could we get to cover before we were drenched through again?

We don't want to moan and we try to be upbeat.  We would like to assure everyone that this challenge is incredibly hard.  It was a long day, the weather was playing tricks again, we had breakfast at the hotel, a muffin in Gravesend, a cup of tea at Brands Hatch.  Despite covering our water bottles, the road/path conditions meant that it wasn't safe to drink from them because of mud and grime.  Sometimes the team get stressed after being over 1 month without a break.

Anyway, once we got to Erith, took a little shelter from the storm, the path improved considerably.

Trying to shelter - there are some turbines
out there in the fog

These are the turbines as the thunder moved north.

Brands Hatch - Venue 10

Brands Hatch Circuit
Philip, Jake, Nic & Mike Grove,  Circuit Manager

Brands Hatch, venue 10, will be home to the Paralympic Road Cycling competition.  The athletes will have a circuit around the perimeter of the track (as cycled by the team) and then come onto the actual circuit (not cycled by the team - Jason Plato and others were doing a far quicker job at the time!)

Thanks very much to Kevin Ritson and Mike Grove, the first venue providing cups of tea to the weary travellers and a great explanation of how the Paralympics/Olympics will come to a close at Brands Hatch.  Thanks too, to the drivers completing practice laps whilst we were there - great excitement.

Taxi on circuit 

The team, taxi and Brands Hatch entrance

Hadleigh Farm - Brands Hatch

Oh my goodness, it's tricky negotiating roads to these venues!

Anyway, good jaunt down to the ferry at Tilbury from our Basildon base.  There are some great parks/nature reserves just to the south of Basildon - most unexpected.  Intermittent, drizzle, rain etc just to keep us on our toes.

Yes, he is yawning - and the day's only just begun!

Crossed the Thames by a ferry captained by a very generous (free passage) stereotypical ferryman - fascinating face! Nice bit of ironwork as we left the jetty..

Mind your Step

By Jon the Welder

 Into Gravesend for the obligatory coffee and phoned ahead to Brands Hatch.  Kevin Ritson, PR department, gave us a 45 minute expected ride time.  2 hours and much tension later...

The roads from the north are tiny, busy and not suited to cycling & it rained off and on for good measure.
Still, we were not disappointed.

Hadleigh Farm - Venue 9

Just the 10 miles to the venue and then the 10 miles back - a little 20 mile outing.  A cycle path all the way to Hadleigh was, in fact a cycle path alongside the A127 main dual carriageway from somewhere to somewhere else.  The cycling was horrid and initially damp and drizzly.

We had a date with a photographer.  Jake had another broken gear cable.  Guess where we met up with the photographer.  Rayleigh have a Halfords, so that's where we met!  The pedal got fixed too.

Off to Hadleigh in the dry.  Salvation Army run farm, rare breeds centre, training centre and cafe - great views over the River Thames.

Hadleigh Castle overlooking Thames

Towards Canvey Island

Our contact, as has often been the case, was not there today.  We managed to sweet talk her assistants into a quick photo across the farm to the Mountain Bike course.

A good grin considering he didn't want to take off his jacket

Taxi!

We returned via Sainsbury's to get salad (yep, green stuff) for supper and gave ourselves an hour off 'paperwork' to watch 'Wiggo' win his first ever Tour de France stage - more cycling!