Final Preparations

Well it's finally here . . . . . . . and how do I feel?

It's a blend of excitement mixed with a little apprehension; of warmth for the Challenge and the whole team and a little sadness for our loved ones who we've left at home; of determination to fulfil  my own duties to the best of my ability and of gratitude at being given the opportunity to participate in this amazing venture.

Waking up early, my thoughts immediately turned onto the events of the day and my first "hands on" experience with the Battle bus".

Final packing, always rushed, yet made so much easier by Ellie's help - well, Ellie's "doing it all", actually - what a star!!  She's organised my clothes, toiletries, "todo" lists and everything that I need to make my life on the road as comfortable as possible.

My initial departure time of 10.30am was deferred by a couple of hours because the RV would not be avaliable for collection from the livery company until mid afternoon so 1pm saw me at Hull Paragon Station boarding the train to York.  A fairly uneventful journey, memorable only for a crowd of extremely boistrous, drunken yet fairly inoffensive Geordies who were esconced at the other end of the carriage. They were actually no bother to anyone.
Met up with Kevin, our second driver for the first week and travelled to Signarama who had done a splendid job of transforming our relatively ordinary looking leisure vehicle into an appropriately liveried mobile Race Headquarters!  Pictures to follow tomorrow.

Under Kevins experienced advice and guidance we made our way to Barry's house  to load up - I very quickly came to realise, however, just how easy it would be to lose the offside wing mirror to an overenthusiastic HGV driver travelling in the opposite direction!  Driving an 8ft 8ins wide, left hand drive vehicle on UK roads takes a little getting used to!!!

A couple of hours transferring supplies and equipment from Barry's  house and garage and some fairly innovative packing techniques found us ready to travel to the overnight RV park at the TA  Barracks in Leeds.  So lesson 2 - "Driving an 8ft 8ins wide, left hand drive vehicle in the dark on UK roads was undertaken (and completed uneventfully).

By the time we parked up for the night, we had successfully negotiated 2 busy city centres, Wetherby and Leeds, had reversed and turned round the vehicle on a relatively narrow housing estate road and managed to mostly control (and dominate) our position on the road with respect to other, perhaps less tolerant traffic.  Thanks to Kevin, a hugely experienced HGV driver, for his invaluable hints and advice given, I must say, in an exemplary manner.

The day finished in a bit of a blur - Kevin went back to Harrogate so that he would be available to pick up the group and drive them to tomorrows venue, and the rest of the team enjoyed a wonderful Tapas meal before retiring for the night.

And for my little boy Benji:

Benji's Blog

Hi sweetheart - Mummy tells me that you are being a very good boy for her and helping her lots.  Daddy has been driving the big bus today and has put "Champ" in a special place, right at the front where daddy can see him all of the time.  Everyone thinks that he is lovely.
I will take some photos tomorrow to show you where he is sat.

Mummy is coming to see me tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it very much.  And I will be home to see you on Friday with some new friends for you to meet.

I know that you are fast asleep now, sweetheart, so God Bless and I will see you soon. Love and kisses, Daddy. XXXXXX

So I look forward to tomorrow; to an early wakeup and 6.45am breakfast!  Then down to the start line to prepare for the day's events.

I wonder how Andy's feeling right now?  His hard work begins at 10.30hrs tomorrow and I, along with the rest of the team wish him all the luck in the world!

More later . . . . . . . .