Homeward bound - Inverness to Southwater via Maplehurst!

It's now Tuesday and we are back home, safe and sound. Sunday evening was a great chance to get together over a delicious Indian meal in Inverness. We were all pretty tired for one reason or another. The cyclists had 857 reasons to be a bit tired. Our supporters had made a marathon effort to get up to the edge of nowhere (John O'Groats). None the less we enjoyed a companionable evening before heading back for a relatively early night. Except Beth, of course! She had to update her blog and seems to find late night the best time to do so.
Here's a snap of the crowd in the bar at our Inverness hotel. (Now I am home my pc seems to be allowing uploading of photos in text which it didn't whilst we were away).

We were up at our usual time for breakfast but not dolled up in lyra and leggings today! Beth, John and I were to travel home in the campervan with the bikes and luggage. Alex, David and Simon had a rainy morning in Inverness to endure before their flight home. Chris, Alex, Roxanne and Jo were heading off at 6.30am for the long drive south from their hostel round the corner from us. So we said goodbye to the guys, tucked ourselves up in our van and headed off for the 12hour trip. Beth and I enjoyed recognising various points from our previous couple of days cycling. Great to see it from the warmth and speed of the van. After we de-toured from our route John and I spotted various highlights from his trip last year! I am very pleased that John and I will both have an End-to-End certificate. Who'd have thought that I would accomplish a physical feat to match his? Ok, so he did it quicker but it still counts! His 'n' hers certs, how sweet!
Not much to say about the drive home. John did his usual 'in the zone' trick where he prefers to do all the driving himself. Beth and I dozed, read and generally chilled out for what turned out to be 11 hours. Soon we were rolling into Maplehurst and Beth and I wondered would the pub have put up a celebratory balloon for us? Shame on us for even doubting them! Anne had made a fabulous banner welcoming the whole team and the pub was decorated with 'Welcome Home' balloons.

Lots of regulars came along to say hello and welcome back. Alex brought over Finn to make a fuss of us before he went back to spend one last night at Yew Cottage.  Once I saw the massive map of the UK that they had on the wall with markers for each leg of our journey it kind of started to really hit home what we had achieved. And what incredible support we'd had along the way. Aw, thanks guys!
John gave Alex, Beth and David their belongings from the van and we had a couple of drinks before heading home in a taxi. We left the party to continue and hear that a great time was had by all.
Oh it was good to be back in my own bed, so good! And the bonus is that I don't seem to be too sore, achey or stiff....just a little tired but that is to be expected.
It has been one heck of an adventure from the first thought that I'd like to do it, right through the training and then the awesome ride itself. I will write a retrospective in a week or so once I have unpacked and had chance to settle in again.
I want to once again thank all of you who have read this blog, commented, sent lovely emails and texts and voicemails. Especial thanks to those who felt they wanted to donate to the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team over in Snowdonia. Whatever we might have achieved this past fortnight, these women and men really are unsung heroes. They work day and night to help people in difficulty on the mountain all without pay. If you haven't already, please donate whatever you can via the justgiving page (www.justgiving.com/le-jog-blog) or by calling me on 07917 861604.
Thanks again for popping by.......hugs to all x