Back in the Saddle! Only 52k :-)

So the weekend started as a hectic rush, nothing un-normal in my life but this was more hectic than normal!  Jean kindly came over to mine to pose for newspaper pictures for us to get an article in the Durham times, Northern Echo and the Advertiser ....Result, Lets hope it brings us some much needed publicity and the foot in the door to a snowball of help fundraising :-)  Poor Jean has been feeling under the weather since her event yet still she summoned up the energy to make it across for the photos....big thank you :-)  We had a nice relaxing Friday nice with a homemade spag bol .... and to be fair an early night ready for our adventure. 

Amazingly after weeks of torrential rain and planning the need for an ark we awoke to a gloriously sunny and pleasant morning. So after a bacon sandwich and cups of coffee we were ready to set off but only after I had mastered the art of fitting Jeans bike computer.


We set of down on my normal route towards Broompark picnic area to start off along the Lanchester route,  Jean was nervous of her knee and after 3 weeks of inactivity due to bad weather I wasn't feeling capable of attempting anything harder. 

The route was nice and the weather was good, but after reaching Lanchester we continued on to Consett and I found this bit particularly hard as it was a contiuous mild incline, I just kept thinking about the amazing downhill section which must have been about to come at any moment.......it went on and on until we decided to stop for a quick Lucozade sweet and cereal bar as I was shaking and struggling :-(  Jean took some amazing pictures along the route and after getting a boost of energy (those sweets are amazing, I MUST stock up!!)  

We pushed on, eventually the amazing downhill section came and at the bottom we were lucky enough to find a beautiful little farm cafe, it may have been little but it was packed Im not surprised as inside there was the most astounding array of local cheeses, fresh meat, fresh vegetables and local produce it was amazing!!  The food looked totally astounding and mouth wateringly good, so we stopped for lunch, it even had bike racks so it must have been fate ;-)  Jean kindly treated me and we both ate a plate of fresh ham, beef and chicken with local cheeses and freshly made bread it was light and filling, just what we needed........Jean also bought us a cheeky fruity scone to pack in our bags for later on in the journey,  It tasted divine :-)  so Thank you :-) xx

After some master map reading skills and super detective work we managed to get onto the C2C route and evetually back onto the route for home.........there was a motorbikers party on in Lanchester, the music sounded good and the weather was amazing it was so tempting to stop for a cheeky beer, but we resisted the urged and pushed on towards home. Every now and again Jean was feeding me Lucozade tablets to keep me going as I was really struggling by this point!! (OH and extremely muddy!!)


The closer to home we got, the more tired I was getting and all I wanted to do was get home, have a nice bath and chill.........I got home to the welcome of hubby wanting me to load heavy stuff into the car to go to the tip, a mass of dirty dises, toys everywhere and the whole neighborhood of kids playing in and out of my garden (hubbys idea of looking after them!) and I had a total tantrum, through tiredness.  Thankfully  Jean put everything back into perspective made me a cup of coffee and made me realise the kids were the most important thing (and they were fine!) and the house could wait until tommorow (today!) probably the best idea since I was having extra kids overnight and all of my work would have been undone anyway :-)  Did I mention I got a tad muddy :-)

I managed to settle all 7 kids by 10pm and was looking forward to settling in my cozy bed for the night but my knees were agony and after the 3rd lot of deep heat I resorted to painkillers....at 2.35am when hubby returned home from a jolly in Durham with is best friend and long time friend he was extremely worse for wear and very loud!  At 4am I retreated to bed with Co-codamol taking its effect, only to be woken at 5.30 am with excited kids waking from their sleepover and ready to play :-/  anyhow I got up and amazingly I am not stiff or sore today and very happy with my achievements!

 I just need to master the art of not having a perfectly tidy house when leaving hubby in charge of the kids with many more long rides to come :-)  Wonder whether hubbys head will hurt when he finally makes it out of bed.......bacon and eggs at the ready :-)