Page 32 - QARANC Vol 15 No 1 2017

30 QARANC THE GAZETTE
peaks we found a suitable place to stop for lunch. As I said the support team were amazing throughout and had the tables, chairs, hot water, “horror” bags etc all set up ready for our arrival. I’m pretty sure I inhaled my calorie laden lunch and tried to convince myself that with 30 odd miles to push it really didn’t matter how many bags of Tato’s crisps I ate. By mid afternoon my legs were getting tired; however, signs for Catterick soon perked me up and, before I knew it, we arrived at the Officers Mess in Gazza Barracks. I treated myself to a long soak in a very hot bath, had supper, and hit the sack.
Day three, Catterick to York, was one of the shortest days and with the sun shining and “only” 50 miles to push, spirits were high. The route was fairly flat all the way, mainly twisty country lanes, so we arrived in York feeling pretty fresh.
On day four we woke up to clouds and rain; however, by the time we hit the road the sun was shining and the “slight” head wind had apparently dropped. Personally I felt like I was
battling with a full on hurricane for the entire 80 miles of long, flat, straight and seemingly endless roads. This day turned out to be my “not so” good day. Despite the awesome sports massage I had endured through gritted teeth the night before, everything, particularly my legs, felt tired. We were warned at the beginning that we would all have good and bad days and that they wouldn’t necessarily sync with the rest of the team; that definitely proved to be my ‘hitting the wall’ very bad day. We finally arrived at RAF Waddington, surprisingly well ahead of schedule; never had I been so relieved to see the front gates of an RAF camp!!! At supper The Countess read a message out from The Queen, wishing us good luck and words of encouragement; my copy is framed and treasured.
After day four’s pathetic performance and the unexpected encountering of “The Wall” I was dreading day five; however, thankfully my legs had decided to join me again. The 50 mile route was pretty painless, only a few hills, twisty country lanes and yet again sunshine all the way. We all arrived at RAF Wittering feeling remarkably fresh considering we had just completed day five (or day six if you count the “leg stretch” prior to the off). With a couple of hours to kill we all managed an afternoon nap prior to supper at the Station Commander’s house. The food was amazing so yet again despite the miles covered, my food intake had far exceeded the amount of energy actually spent and it was at this point that I raised concerns that my outfit for Buckingham Palace wasn’t going to fit.
I think day six, the longest day, was the one that we had all been dreading; however, as always spirits were high and yet again the sun was shining. You really can’t underestimate the positive effect the amazing weather had on everyone. We all managed to keep our sense of humours and we couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like if we’d had rain and wind to contend with – pretty miserable I suspect. The panda eyes and ridiculous cycling short tan lines were most definitely unexpected. As we made our way across the airfield to the crash gate it soon became apparent that the day was going to be particularly tough due to a draining head wind, which