Wayne, Alan and Jez paid for dinner and dad and I were told NOT to chip in, it was completely unnecessary, that's probably why they did it. Thanks guys.
So, 8am for breakfast was organised, Jez and Wayne rolled in at 8.30! Oh well, a 9am start looks unlikely!!!
After breakfast, whilst setting up bikes Googie had another puncture! His front tyre had a blowout, he wasn't even on the bike!
Alan repaired it... Again!
All the worry of the Devon and Cornwall hills ebbed away as we realised we had our "cycling legs" and could now cope with whatever was in our way... "Together, we are invincible!" as Jez had often said.
The first part of our day took us to Lizard Point. The views were awesome!
We had one last rest about 9 miles out. We had word that some of our families were there already. Adrenaline was kicking in and we set off for the final time, Wayne kept asking how much we had climbed and the shout of "none more hills" was good to hear!
My emotions were running high as we came down the straight towards the finish line. 20 people had made the effort to come to see us over the line, they all clapped and cheered!
With everyone milling around I took myself off to one side and sat and looked at the guys with our friends and families. They will never know how much pride I felt looking at them. In that moment I felt great joy that we had all completed such a momentous journey, but also a tinge of sadness that we would break up what has become even tighter friendships. In 15 days together, 5 blokes with differing personalities hadn't had a single argument. Surely that is the biggest testement of our friendship. Well, that and them blindly following me and my Garmin of course!
To get back to the Travelodge in Newquay, Dad drove me, Anne, Lewis and Toni (my family) in the van and Wayne, Jo, Alan and Jez went in Wayne's car. We beeped as we went past them as Wayne had to pull over so Alan could take a pee... One at the side of the road for old time’s sake!
Sorry that I couldn't blog last night, but in the words of Big Chris in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels:
"IT'S BEEN EMOTIONAL"
Today’s figures are: 58.93 miles in 6 hours 25 minutes at 9.2 mph.
Total figures are: 981.57 miles at an average of 9.2 mph.
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as much as you can at www.justgiving.com/5blokes-end2end
All the best,
Nathan