Safely on the Ferry :O)

6 pm Wednesday and the boys are safely on the ferry, a bit tired and sweaty with sore bottoms, but happy! Got chance to speak to Pete properly and he told me a few bits and bobs which I'd like to share with you.

Firstly he told me that Richard Everard from Everard's Brewery waved them off when they finished work on Tuesday afternoon, and had given them some "Tiger Bitter" towels for when they get sweaty, and a pack of beer to fortify them. They were also going to take pictures along the way for Everards for promotion "Where do you drink your Tiger?" and so far they've taken a picture showing the White Cliffs of Dover in the background and their Tiger beer amongst others. They are also taking pictures of the little Bear in various locations for the children at Barlestone school - Tony will bring him back to you and he can tell you of his adventures! The lads had a nice Italian meal on Tuesday evening in London and then sat in a park in the beautiful sunshine with a couple of "Tigers" before they retired to bed early. Last night they decided not to eat on the ferry, but wait until they got to Calais. They had approximately 4 to 5 miles to ride to the hotel when they got off the ferry - and they were drawing straws as to who got to have the first nice soak in the bath when they arrived. They are thrilled that the weather is being so kind to them - it would not have been fun if it had been raining.

They have been following little orange markers, and I think they went slightly off course at one stage so have covered a few extra miles (so that shuts me up for saying that I thought they ought to be pedalling all the time they were crossing the channel!) - apparently if you don't see a marker in approximately a mile, they know they will be going off course. It's really well organised and about every 25 miles or so, there is a water point and they can get energy bars, banana's, water etc if they want them. They're drinking lots of water (despite Pete having a "Tiger" can in his water holder on his bike and people thinking he's drinking beer all day ha). Oh and there are a lot of nice bikes that people have - and you really do need a decent bike to take part in something like this - so they're all glad they got theirs earlier in the year.

I sent some french phrases that I thought might be useful yesterday via text - but they asked me to find out what is french for "You have a nice behind"!!! Typical. The funny thing is that Pete has been cycling behind Frank so I'm getting worried now!! His mum was really happy to speak to him though and said she'd been thinking about them all day, and pedalling with them.

There have been a couple of people coming off their bikes and there was nearly a pile up when some people stopped to work out which way they should go, but generally things are going smoothly. However, there was one incident which is humorous, but obviously not for the guy concerned at the time bless him, (still around London/Kent area I believe) where they found a cyclist in all his gear, lying on the ground having come off his bike, and he looked quite shook up with gravel and blood stuck to him - but one girl from the lad's group actually went over him and had a nasty bruise to show for it afterwards, and they thought the guy was suffering from concussion bless him as everyone kept stopping to ask him whether he knew which group he was in, where his group was, and whether he knew where to go on the route etc - he just kept looking up in confusion and obviously hadn't got a clue what they were talking about. Turns out that the poor guy was nothing to do with the cycle challenge at all and was just out on his own for a cycle, and was being kidnapped by all these concerned crazy people!

Today they will be cycling approximately 75 miles (unless they go off course and it could be a few more) and they will end up in Abbeville overnight.

Anyway, hopefully the lads had a nice meal last night, a nice soak and plenty of sleep. I'll update you again when I can ............

Val :O)