David dishes the 'dirt' on day seven!

Day 7, my final day.... well morning.  The weather was looking positive, only a mild headwind and no rain on the horizon.  This morning was full of mixed emotions, excited as at Liverpool I would see my family, but then a bit sad as I would be leaving a great bunch of new friends behind.

We started in Blackpool and I forgot to fill my bottles so had to play catch up to get to the Tower, in typical challenge attitude, no man gets left behind and, Jason waited to ride me back to the group. What an example to set to my two colleagues from TCS Claims who joined us as day riders.  Once at the Tower it was photo time before we set out to Liverpool, it was at this point we all split into our usual groups.  Throughout my 6 days so far I have cycled with the intermediate group and day 7 would be no different.  On leaving Blackpool we met with a Peugeot 107 driver who clearly had a complex that our peloton of bike was probably worth at least 5 times the value of his car.  The driver and his chums were less than polite and at several points were waving their arms around like angry apes in the jungle.  After we left them behind the pace was good and I was starting to think that Flacky had been ill whilst working out today's route, all real roads so far and we were about 30 miles in.

This soon changed and our road bikes started to weep as we went off road to terrain more suited to a monster truck. Lovely views and a great laugh but as we had come to realise over many of our days, our British cycle routes are in need of some real TLC.

Other than the 107, the bumpy route into the outskirts of Liverpool, John and Charlie having punctures, Wattsy's bike falling apart, and Jamie missing his bottle cage so dropping the bottle whilst riding along, our morning was event free. Just some good cycling, some chatting and laughs along the way.

Into Liverpool and onto the Echo Wheel. Here we were met with cheers from my family before I said my goodbyes, good lucks and grabbed my luggage.  Off the the guys went to get lunch and for me it was back to normality, no more sore arse (well the pain will ease) and no more lycra for a few days.

Thanks to everyone on the challenge, I have made some great friends and I really do hope that another is thought of for next year. I would definitely come back and tell others to join me.

From Endsleigh's only core rider, goodbye for now and good luck to the rest of the team for the final days.

Oh and I am gutted as I didn't see Noodles fall just before lunch, he is a falling legend!

Bye
David (Haigh)

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