21 days in July – the 2005 Douglas Bader Foundation E2E ride re-blogged

New Zealander Nathan Smith (pictured below with Richard Lamb) was hit by a car about a year ago resulting in an above knee amputation of his left leg. Here at the time on an 18 month working visa, he’s a Pharmacist in London who was a keen rugby player before the accident. His brother, Conrad, plays for the All Blacks and last night Nathan asked for directions from the Travel Inn receptionist to a pub with Sky showing the last game in the Lions – All Blacks Test. Nathan, Rob and I left on time in the morning but the directions were flawed and we did 10 miles racing around Hereford looking for the Fox Hunter when in actual fact it was only 1 mile from the Hotel! Anyway, we sat down with a drink 20 minutes into the game with the All Blacks leading thanks in part to a try scored by number 13, Conrad Smith!

The previous evening Rob made a wager with Nigel, the team mechanic, that we would beat the main group to Ludlow after watching the game. As soon as the last minute played out we were onto the bikes and pedalling towards Ludlow. We made it in 90 minutes, two hours before the main group – Nigel will be buying a bottle of malt whisky when we reach Scotland :o)

We said goodbye to Emma today as she went back to the magazine conglomerate IPC. Pictured below with Kiera, Emma has been supporting us from the start, sorting out accommodation, meals, shopping, shouting encouragement and just being perfectly pink.

We also said goodbye to the Canadians, Steve and Annie – they’ll definitely be missed at the front.

The Travel Lodge in Shrewsbury wasn’t as welcoming as the Travel Inn which has a pub attached to it rather than a Little Thief. Tomorrow, the destination is the Travel Inn in Warrington…