Headed out of Lincoln. Trying to get onto the A15: must have missed the turning as I was distracted by the screaming coming from my ankle. It is taking longer and longer to warm up in the morning and today was no exception. Trying not to cry with the pain as that means I can't see where I am going - either blink the tears out the eyes or cowboy up and stop. Traffic was moderately heavy as well so must have gone past the turning and subsequently had to take a cross country route to get back to it. Traffic was nasty - fast, trying to get somewhere yesterday and not bothered whether they ran me off the road. Headed around Sleaford and then on to Donington before turning towards Pinchbeck. Rolled into Pinchbeck and phoned Glenside for some directions. Realise now that I must have been on a real sugar low as I managed to miss the turning again. Eventually found my way, in part enabled by the orange balloons. The service users were outside to welcome me which was just the tonic I needed. Came indoors for tea and cake - oh my but that cake was ambrosia to me!! Felt the brain coming back to life as the service users headed off to their various afternoon activities. Had a quick chat with Chris Fogle - amazing what that man can do with cutlery, coloured paper and smarties...all involved in assessing visual acuity (at least I think that is what he said, the cake may not have taken full affect by then). Good to meet you Chris - always good to put a face to the name.
Then a chat with Mike Gamble. Fascinating to hear so much about Glenside and the other places that make up the Sense College. They have had challenging times recently but Mike was very upbeat about the future. There is still work to be done but Mike is positive and he knows he has a good team. I loved meeting the service users and Dawn, the office manager (did I get that right, Dawn?) was an absolute star. Thank you so much to all at Glenside for such a great welcome and best of luck for what I am sure will be a very positive future.
Suddenly realised that my good friend Helen who was due to meet me today on her bike Jet, had been calling to check where I was. Called her and agreed to meet at the Bull pub in Pinchbeck. Now all day I had heard the William Tell overture playing in my head when I thought of Helen joining me - she was the best kind of cavalry that a cyclist could ask for. If ever you are feeling a bit low on energy then spend just 10 minutes with Ms Gosnell and soak up some of that positivity. We headed out of Spalding towards Downham Market. Now here was a real lowpoint - I had to make the difficult decision not to visit Hampton Resource Centre in Peterborough. I realised it would have added on the miles but also would have seen us turning up quite late at our night stop. Went on through the Whaplode fens - fields of pear trees, plum trees, apple trees, various vegetables and wheat. Flat country but good for cycling. Made our way to a place called Wisbech - looked pleasant from the outside but was actually a bit rubbish when we got there. Firsty a kid shouted 'you look exhausted' - yes, thanks for that, then a rather overweight gentleman told me 'I thought you are meant to be fit' as I struggled to push my bike up the stairs and finally someone shouted 'you are meant to ride it not push it'. Couldn't wait to get out Wisbech - no nice looking pubs and we didn't want to leave Jet and Lightning anywhere without us. Onwards to Downham Market. Entertaining family outside the pub but we had a grand dinner of lamb shanks before heading to bed - the entertaining family entertained us with a massive argument on the street (if you are going to have a kid you must take responsibility for it, now go home and be with your kids, blah blah blah).
SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
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