Farewells

It was my final day at work on Friday 15th. My colleagues very kindly gave me some leaving presents, two of which are pictured here on the left. I've no doubt the book will come in useful, but I'm not expecting to be travelling fast enough to warrant the use of the horn, cute as it is. The other present was a goodly value of vouchers for use at a local bike shop - I've not decided how best to spend them yet, but when I do I'll pop a note on here to let people know.

I think I've made a bit of progress in getting used to the LEJOG bike, with a quick ride during the week and a longer ride this morning with panniers full to the brim. I set off today at 8.30am, to see what sort of progress I could make with an early start. Unfortunately, my destination, Belvior Castle, was closed when I arrived - I was too early !. So progress was good enough for me to miss out on tea and cakes. I'll perhaps not be in such a rush to get out of the door during the holiday.

Still on the way back home I got my first opportunity to take a photo of bike near funny, for me at least, place name. This obviously won't have the element of suprise for locals, but I'm hoping to snap some corkers further from home.

Overall, I'm feeling a little bit more confident now about covering 50 - 60 miles per day with about 10kgs of luggage on the back.