Gone for a Burton

Drew's bike had been making occasional graunching noises for much of
yestterday. Nothing consistent, mind, and we couldnkt trace the souirce.
Well, today, a mile or so out of Burton on Trent, the back wheel bearings
started to sound like a cement mixer... and we rode gently back into town.
Halfords don't do repairs on a weekend; but fortunately Dan at Halfords in
Burton DOES. Currently drinking coffee at nearby Tesco, and looking forward
to riding with Drew on his new wheel in about 10 mins. Kudos to Dan.

Home for 14 hours

A very pleasant ride through the cool and leafy lanes of north London and
south Hertfordshire yesterday, to reach Schering Plough late morning. The
reception committee included the Temodal product manager, communications
and patient advocacy managers, and even the MD (who kindly gave me a - very
fluent - interview to camera). I was anxious about the time, so declined
their offer of lunch, grabbing instead two bananas from the canteen, then
hurtled up Ermine Street - the near-deserted Roman road from Hertford to
near Cambridge and beyond. At the Cancer Help Centre, there were numerous
volunteers, David from Scotsdales who helped them with the building and
funding, a number of members of the Rotary Club who have collectively been
my biggest sponsor, and assorted news media with cameras. Celeb for a day!
We drank tea, ate cake, and then I rode home with a couple of neighbours
who had also come to say hello, to a further reception at the Plough +
Fleece in Horningsea with chili and baked potatoes for all... before an
early night. Sigh. Off to Leicester today with brother Drew.

The last post

... On this battery charge. Man Utd won, I met my MP and then my buddies in
the pub. Easy ride into London. More tomorrow when I can recharge my and
the BlackBerry's batteries at home in Horningsea.

Brothers

Break from blogging yesterday. After the rigours of Dorset's coast (90
miles total that day) yesterday was a gentle 65 or so, partly across the
Isle of Wight, with a long and agreeable break at the University of
Portsmouth being shown around the Brain Tumour Research Lab by Prof Geoff
Pilkington. Geoff loves his kit, like any scientist. It was very striking
how little of it had been provided by government funds, though: much if not
most was from private individuals and chariries like BTUK. Met up with my
brother Drew in the evening, so for a few hours the three of us have been
together. Drew and I head off for the Smoke (London) this morning.

Where am I?

Burton Bradstock, Dorset coast. This is the Jurassic coast, named after the
fossilized remains of knackered pre-stone-age cyclists who lost hope on the
hills, lay down, died and were preserved in limestone. No blog post last
night: we were in the bottom of one of those Devon valleys that block
mobile reception. Then this morning's ride was characterized by several
extra miles while we looked for the right road. Eventually we found it: up
the side of a 1 in 4 hill. At least the weather's nice.

Floods, flowers and food

Just so that you don't think I was exaggerating about the weather: the pub
I went to for dinner tonight was flooded! I squelched around on their
carpet in my Tevas. The flowers here are more advanced than at home:
foxgloves everywhere, in mid-May. And I saw the first poppy of the summer
this morning. Talking of pubs, as I was... I aim to eat and drink local
produce to the extent possible on this ride. Along with my pasties today, I
was introduced to the fruity charms of the 'tea treat', an oversized
saffron bun. And for dinner, Cornish cider (6 percent, hic) and chiken
tikka masala, which is local fare throughout England.

Dodgy knee

I'd have loved to make an upbeat entry, but two Ibuprofen haven't helped.
My left knee - the one that caused me to give up running - hurts. We'll see
how it goes overnight. I know its patterns of misbehaviour, and it might
just be a touch stiff rather than agonising. At the moment, though, it's
making me very twitchy. The cycling went OK today: I didn't notice my knee
was bad until I got off the bike. There were a lot of cyclists at Land's
End, all of them planning to go a lot faster than me, albeit in company.
Four lads from London with a target of eight days. I hope they had a good
day's riding. We (I) had a couple of hours of 'torrential downpours' (Met
Office's words, not mine) but negligible wind, at least, and clouds all day
so low you felt you could grab them. A nice lady outside the pasty bakery
gave me a fiver, and a man on the spectacular bridge at Wadebridge (built
1468!) stopped his Dawes Super Galaxy, took my photo and did the same. Soon
I'll learn to post photos so you can see.