A look back over the ride and some vital statistics

We've had a hard day today trying to work out, for our lovely sponsors, what we did. Cycling was easier in some ways. Here's the result:

• Miles: 990.91 (includes conservative estimates of a few spells where Gigi the Garmin Gadget didn't keep a record).

• Hastoe rural housing schemes and Hastoe offices visited: 57 (55+2)

• Punctures: 2 (one each)

• Injuries: 3 (Harry is now in plaster and awaits an appointment at the local hospital to get her arm sorted out)

I can't think how to sum up our excursion. It was a holiday and it wasn't. It was arduous but we had a lot of fun. Here are some photos in chronological order, one for each of the 22 days. Because we added a day at the beginning, the first day (out of 22) has to be Day zero. that was Monday 19th August and we got back yesterday, Monday 9th September.

Day Zero. Squeezing through a gate somewhere near Strawberry Hill while following a route chosen by Gigi the Garmin Gadget. On the other side was a sign "PRIVATE".

Day 1. A traffic jam of a kind. Yes, that is the London Eye you see.

Day 2. Harry's two falls leave her arm looking as though she
has overindulged in the spinach. She decides to press on.

Day 3. A typical Hastoe housing scheme. Affordable but good.

Day 4. Taking tea and cakes at Gaymer Memorial Cottages, Attleborough. In this environmentally made-over cottage, built in the 1940's, the tenant (the other white-haired lady in the middle) has more gadgets, fitted experimentally by Hastoe, than you could shake a stick at. And she knows how to work them all.

Day 5. The swelling on Harry's arm has moved down.

Day 6.  Rule Gardens, Fordham, East Cambridgeshire. I think!

Day 7. We had done over 50 miles per say on average for eight days. Harry caught me having a little sit down.

Day 8. Field Close, Tingewick, Aylesbury Vale. the sun is shining and all is well.

Day 9. That sign says 10%. After a week in East Anglia, we weren't used to such things. 

Day 10. A random White Horse somewhere in Somerset. Pretty but those hills are not nice when it comes to going over them. My beard has just begun to make its presence felt.

Day 11. A tenant and some of her family at Longman's Lea, Ditcheat. We loved the way people here seemed free - children playing and riding bikes round the village.

Day 12. Our kind host near Ilminster bringing back the dustbin on her bike.

Day 13. Time for a bit of wildlife. This striking Speckled Wood butterfly caught our attention along the canalside near Tiverton. Gigi was going to take us on the road but we spotted the canal in passing and it proved a much pleasanter ride.

Day 14. Wonderful views abound in Devon. the wheatfields of Suffolk long behind us.

Day 15. The excellent Bike Shed in Crediton fixed us up with much needed new brake pads.I spotted three unicycles hanging there but Harry was not keen to try them out. 

Day 16. The hills got even steeper. This was the day my tyre burst from
overheating going down one of these hills; and the day we met the cows
going to be milked, which were terrified of our yellow jerseys..

Day 17. This lady lives in the only Hastoe home in the village
of Hardington Mandeville and liked it so much she wanted to buy it.

Day 18. We really didn't mean to get quite so off-road. If only I had mastered the instructions for Gigi before we departed.

Day 19. Another magnificent vista. 

Day 20. West Sussex. We had a spot of rain on two occasions in East Anglia but this was the first time we really got wet. It was also the day Harry took another tumble and had to get medical aid. She's in a plaster now, but still managed to ride with me a mile to our last destination, The Willows, Barcombe.

Day 21. Arrived in Barcombe at last.