Ride 6 - Heavy Metal Truants IX Charity Virtual Bike Ride

I had a busy week last week that culminated on Friday (which is usually a cycling day for me) in assisting Barry in replacing our shed roof!

I did over 7000 steps in the garden being Barry's Gofer/climbing ladders over a 9 hour period and was exhausted by the end of the day!

The ME fatigue lasted a few days so yesterday was the first day back on the bike where I did a 3 mile round trip to meet friends for a walk.  But I forgot to record it, so I’m not counting those cycle miles.

I am always motivated by knowing that each mile that I cycle will help 4 great children’s charities - The Teenage Cancer Trust, Childline, Nordoff Robbins and Save the Children. But this morning I received extra motivation in a sponsorship that took me over £300! So thank you to each and every one of your for your sponsorship.

If you haven’t done so already, you can sponsor me here.

Today, I planned a bike ride and a catch up with my friend Nerissa as we hadn’t seen each other for a few months, so I set off on the trails to the outskirts of Lyndhurst to meet her.

This route took me through the bluebell woods that I  visited on rides 2 and 5 and were pleased to see that they are now  out more.

The trees, especially the beech trees, are looking beautiful.

I met Nerissa and we headed back down the trails to Blackwater, did a loop of the arboretum and cycled back along the roads toward Brockenhurst, where we saw some lovely Highland cattle.

Retracting my initial route, we cycled back through the bluebell woods where we stopped for a drink and a snack whilst enjoying the bluebells and then headed back to Lyndhurst.

Nerissa peeled off for the school pick-up and I cycled round the one way system to eventually join another trail that leads back to Brockenhurst via a different route.

Thank you Nerissa for your company and helping the miles fly by whilst we chatted.

Despite it clouding over, the weather stayed dry and I cycled into Brockenhurst to empty my aluminium recycling bin before heading home.

This ride was a total of 21.79 miles.

So Barry has calculated that I have followed the Grand Union Canal from Northampton and I’m now in Crick.

Only 61.6 miles to go!

Thank you for reading this.

Julie x