When everyone else was watching the royal wedding, Ben was cycling across southern England from Borstal, Medway to Poole Harbour and the view of Brownsea Island. Brian and I were driving along in support.
7.15am
Ben set off from the start point at 24th Borstal Scout hut (outside the gate – there didn’t seem much point trying to go in). Cai got up early and came to the scout hut to see Ben off.
The first part of the route took him over the M2 bridge, over towards Leybourne, through Offham, through Shipbourne and on to Edenbridge where we had decided on the first checkpoint.
Unfortunately, although we had the route planned on two iPhones, the checkpoints were not showing on either. Communication by mobile phone allowed us to set up a meeting point where Ben’s route met the A22 after Lingfield. He arrived at 10.15am. Luckily, I had just happened to ring him while he had stopped for a break so communication was possible!
After a drink, bottle refill and plenty to eat he set off again. We had lost the checkpoint details and I had thought that the next one was Petworth. Ben thought that Stroud, a small village on the route, was not too far past Petworth and we decided to aim for there. We drove on ahead and nearly got to Stroud when he rang to say that he was in Pulborough, had run out of drink ages ago and needed a break and some food. We turned round and drove back towards him. He phone again to say that he was stopping on the edge of Hensworth Common, Fittleworth and we should meet him there. It was a good 15 minutes drive back and, when we got to the common he was waiting up a path that made him invisible from the road in both directions! We drove past him twice!
He had a high energy lunch (chocolate spread sandwiches, cereal bars, chocolate and nuts and a banana) similar to his high energy snack on the last stop. After taking plenty of fluids on board and, again, refilling his bottle, he set off towards Midhurst, where we saw him briefly to allow him to remove one layer of clothing. Our stop in Midhurst allowed us to have some lunch and we then saw Ben again just before Petersfield. He was starting to ache. His neck was hurting and his knees were becoming sore. As Stroud was only 2-3 miles away he decided to carry on and then have another lunch break. He had a small fall off the bike earlier on when he couldn’t unclip the cycle shoes, possibly a sign of getting tired.
We had agreed to meet at the village sign on the way into Stroud village. But when we got there we found the village sign to be quite understated and on a blind corner so Ben cycled past while I photographed the sign. He had another break but was unable to eat or drink any more and his stomach was hurting. We found a pub and used the toilets, had a coffee and a seat for a while. He really looked like he didn’t want to go on but after a while he got himself ready to go and set off again. Next stopping point, Bishops Waltham.
Brian and I drove along Ben’s route along a small winding road through the South Downs. Attempts at stopping to go for a walk on a public footpath were thwarted by signs preventing us from parking anywhere.
When we met Ben in Bishops Waltham he was doubled over in pain. He had a pain just left of his belly button and couldn’t move. He said his legs felt fine but he was pale and in great pain. The pain didn’t subside and, eventually, we decided to get him and his bike in the car. We checked his mileage and he had done 113 miles. As there were at least 48 miles to go according to the map, he decided to cycle the last 33 miles of the trip and skip Southampton. We drove through Southampton but the pain was getting worse and eventually we thought we should try to consult a pharmacist. We couldn’t find one that was open and Ben was saying that maybe he needed some different types of food (protein? salt?) We decided to get him something to eat and found those palaces of nutrition, McDonalds and KFC! They had what it seemed he might be needing, plenty of salt. He had a piece of chicken from KFC (I went in there by mistake and couldn’t understand why they said they didn’t have chicken nuggets!) and then a bag of chips from McDonalds. He very soon said he was feeling a bit better and we assumed that he may have had cramped intestines. He felt more positive and said he wanted to carry on. We decided on the gateway to the New Forest (Ashurst), which seemed to leave about the right amount of distance.
Brian decided to cycle to Ben’s start point, to get the bike out of the city. Ben and I drove to Ashurst and then spent ages trying to find Brian, getting a little cross as Ben was now keen to get going and finish the ride. Once we found him and Ben had started to cycle again we drove in hops, waiting for Ben to get a good way ahead and then driving past him to a stopping point then waiting for him to pass us. Just before Christchurch we had been driving for quite a while and hadn’t passed him. We felt sure that we must have missed him but equally fairly sure that we had followed the right route. We phoned him and found that he was miles ahead of us and already on the promenade along the Bournemouth seafront. It then became a race to get to the viewing point for Brownsea Island before him. The road is much longer than the promenade route and it took ages for us to get there. Brian and I were like a rally team, me driving and him navigating (only we were driving at a small fraction of the speed).
We reached the ferry dock and quay for Brownsea Island and, luckily (for us, maybe not for Ben), found that Ben had been so held up by revellers on the promenade that we had beaten him to it. Only just, though, he arrived at around 9.15pm, about 10 minutes after us. He had averaged a speed of 17 miles an hour on the final stretch (having averaged around 14.4 mph up until then).
It was already raining but as we were celebrating on the quayside the heavens opened and the thunder and lightning started.
Ben rode the 146 miles he set out to do and reached his destination. We are so proud of him.
Our friends Fiona and Colin, who live in Poole, gave us a meal, cups of tea and squash and let Ben use their shower. They even sponsored him. We left their house at 11pm , getting home at 2am. Not much time for Ben to recover before he needed to be at work at the tennis club at 10am! He has a doubles match in the afternoon then, I hope, he will take a well-earned rest.
