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...

Saturday 22 September 2012

Day 8 Leyland to Shrewsbury

After a very good nights kip in Richard and Leah's home we were treated to a full breakfast by Richard. I know I've said this before but we can't thank you both enough for the kindness you showed to two wet footed, cold and tired cyclists.

We departed Leyland in the frigid air taking care on the roads dusted with frost. The sun soon made an appearance and the day started to warm up as we headed south towards Wigan then Warrington. Navigation through the towns was proving easier that we had feared helped in part with a number of cyclist heading the same way as us.

The rolling countryside that we had admired on either side of the road yesterday decided to position itself on the road in front if us today. With good weather today and rain forecast for the next few days we were keen to make good progress today and cover as much ground as possible. With tomorrows rain in mind we pushed ourselves over the hills as fast as we could.

After fifty five miles we stopped in the pretty market town of Whitechurch and were pleased with how many miles we had covered in the morning session. One roast turkey sandwich later and we pressed on towards Shrewsbury over more green hills. Unfortunately our quick pace in the morning was beginning to take it's toll and with each subsequent incline seemed to be longer and steeper than the last, the bikes weighing more and our legs a shade more leaden. By the time we arrived at the outskirts of.Shrewsbury the tentative plan of arriving there and then seeing how far extra we could push ourselves had been assigned to the 'maybe another day' pile.

We found a b&b in Shrewsbury and descended into the town. It's a slightly dated place, or at least it was in 1987 but it has two beds, a hot shower and the promise of breakfast in the morning.

If you've got a minute too, Sue the manager of the the Shrewsbury Hotel is climbing Kilimanjaro in a couple of weeks in aid of Clic Sargent. If you go to her virgin money page you can show her some support with a few words of wisdom and a couple of beer tokens.

On the way home we got a kebab in the Town Fryer were we were served with a very good chicken kebab. We had a nice chat with the owner who wished us good fortune in our journey and gave us a free drink too. Thank you sir!

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like you are making good progress & lots of people are looking out for you which is really good.
    Hope you get some respite from the weather tomorrow, fingers crossed the BBC have got it wrong! May be back to 'otter pocket' territory so heres hoping you find a warm welcome at the end of the day.

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