JoGLE in Memory of Sdn Ldr Ant Downing

On the 22nd December 2011 Sdn Ldr Anthony Downing was seriously wounded when the vehicle he was travelling in was caught in an explosion south of Kabul. Ant was flown back to the UK where sadly he died of his wounds at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

Ant was my brother, an exceptionally good man and an inspiration to so many, myself included. From an early age he tried to push himself to see what he was capable of. Whilst he was at school he competed in endurance events in running and cycling and as an adult went on to such feats as cycling across America in 25 days a number of Iron Man competitions and completed a Double Iron Man too.

At his funeral the idea of retracing his wheel tracks on a ride across the USA was talked over with many of Ant's friends. I said on a number of times I would like to give it a go. This ride however is not quite so ambitious; it is a training ride to see if I have it within me to cycle long distances. Ant completed the Lands End to John O' Groats trip on his own in 1999. The journey should be approximately 874 miles, hence the target for the fund-raising. My friend Chris Tremblett and I shall be doing the journey in September the other way around mainly due to logistical reasons.

We have been told on a number of occasions that going North to South is the awkward way to do it as we will be pedalling into the wind every day. However, Scotland is high up on the map and Cornwall is at the bottom so although it's a long way it will all be down hill. How hard can it be?


Very, I suspect...

Thursday 20 September 2012

Day 6 Moffat to Carlisle

Another fine breakfast provided by Paul & Lesley started our day, and outside the rain had slackened off giving us a false sense of hope for the days ride to Carlisle. The road out of Moffat was nowhere near as pleasant as the one into it and heading south shortly the road was only a few metres off the side of the motorway. Curiously it was also very busy with lorries despite the proximity of the motorway, many of them carrying tree trunks. Not long after leaving Moffat the rain started in earnest and we got our heads down and got on with the job of following the flat and straight road.

And that was pretty much a description of the entire 45 miles we rode today; flatish, wet and the only interesting thing was passing through Gretna Green. Even the sign at the border was quite nondescript.

We arrived in Carlisle as wet as an otters pocket and set up camp in the William Rufus pub. The staff kindly let us bring the bikes inside where we changed out of most of our wet clothes in full view of everyone. Honestly, we were that soaked we didn't care. Tonight we stay in a travelodge and will be trying to dry our clothes on the worlds smallest eletrical heater.

Tomorrow is supposed to be dryer and we will hopefully make Preston.
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