R4AR

Dear O'H dear and Lovely Tea Jenny,

I drove to meet The Prince at the end of his cycle in Carlisle this afternoon. We had booked into the same hotel as the rest of the group and I arrived early, expecting to see some of the support crew also waiting.

As I walked in, my first thought was ‘“what hell is this?” I am not a hotel snob. To be honest, I’m quite happy in a Travelodge if it’s a bed for the night, but this place was the land that time forgot.

I decided to be open minded and asked the woman with very few teeth at reception if any of the other guests had arrived. She informed me that they had cancelled their group booking and moved to another hotel as they weren’t happy with the standard of the rooms.

I asked if I could use the toilet and was presented with a key. I headed along the corridor with the filthy floor and the paint peeling off the walls and as I turned the key and opened the door, I half-expected to find the undead waiting in the cubicles.

Which would have been a relief. It wasn’t quite Trainspotting but I went to 3 cubicles before I found one that didn’t make me wince. Hovering was the only option.

Amusingly, there was a perspex screen round the reception desk although I strongly suspect that E. Coli is probably a bigger threat that COVID-19.

I booked into the other hotel and waited for The Prince. His group arrived back at 6 pm and they were grey. It was the worst conditions for cycling. Storm Ellen hit Scotland today and they had to contend with a 30-40 mph head wind and torrential rain for most of the 90 mile cycle. On one of the hills, they were down to 4 mph!

Despite this, The Prince was still smiling as he finished. We went for dinner and as I looked around the room, I was struck by how close knit the group is. They have had a horrendous few days with the weather conditions (with more to come). They were tired, a couple of injuries have surfaced but they were on great form and are all absolutely determined to keep going until the end.

We headed to bed around midnight. I was more tired than The Prince which was ridiculous. Mind you, it was a tough drive. It was very rainy. I could hardly see out the windscreen. Unsurprisingly, The Prince didn’t have much sympathy!

C