Simon Robertson, who is married to Sally Robertson the area dean of Swindon, takes over as the support rider for FTBTTT, he writes:
On Sunday, I, Simon, was excited to take over as the support driver. However this was not as easy as it could be. Francis has to leave to travel up to Scotland before my train from Swindon was due to arrive. So a spare car key was left in Bristol a few days ago and passed through at least four hands before it made it's way to me (thanks to Chris Dobson and my family).
Because Lee has been having mechanical difficulties with his bike, he thought it would be good for me to bring his spare bike. So, a friend Paul was kind enough to bring the bike to meet me at Swindon station. I then had the fun of negotiating a bike and my luggage onto 3 different trains, all of them delayed due to heat or crew shortages, until I arrived at Warrington Bank Quay station, where Francis had helpfully parked the car 3 hours earlier. I then drive to the night's hotel, where I was confused by the landlord greeting me by name as I walked in (turns out that Lee had just phoned him). It was 8pm and worryingly for their new escort, no sign of any cyclists nor any news of his long they would be.
A bit about me. I live in Swindon. My most recent job was at United Bible Societies, but have been semi-retired since Christmas, doing temporary work like exam invigilation and driving. I happened to mention this to Lee when I met him in church a few months ago, and a bit later he offered me the opportunity to be his driver. I cycled Lands End to John O'Groats 6 years ago, so know what is required of a support driver.
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Getting much needed supplies to keep the team rehydrated!
And another county reached ....
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