Tuesday 22nd July, Leeds to Retford

51 Miles

It was strange to be at home last night, although the reality was that of washing and sorting out suitcases. There was little time to spend with Steven.

I had decided that  as it was Steven’s last day at primary school  I wouldn’t set off until he had finished, giving me the opportunity to attend his leaving mass and to collect him from school for one last time.

When he started primary school in September 2001, Jane felt lucky to be alive and it had been the first major objective that she had set, despite it being inevitable that she would be unable to see him conclude his days there. That sadness pervaded every aspect of this morning. It brought home just how young Steven is to have lost his Mum and it is a credit to him that he has been so mature all year.

So, while the others started off at 8.30am, I was 6.5 hours behind them. I set off just after 2pm with Maggie. I was glad of the company although saddened that it took 30 miles to realise what a performance it was for her to get her foot in the pedals after every junction. If only I had known.

Although she said she had done little training, I don’t believe her as she managed to grind out an average 20mph for the last 16 miles. What some people will do to get away from me. More alarmingly, for everyone, was that she was mistaken for my daughter three times, I can’t quite begin to understand why as there is barely a decade between us.

Today was 50 miles. Tomorrow we are set to do almost 100 miles between Retford and Wellingborough and how we are looking forward to it.

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This entry was posted by Mike Tomlinson on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 10:01 am and is tagged with Jane's Appeal and is posted in the category Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.