Day 11 - Man's best friend

From Char's mum's house Uffington to Gosport (83 miles)

A great send off with banner and all from Char's mum, Elizabeth, set us up well for the day ahead. Matty's first day of cycling started off with a gentle 15 % incline on our way out of Uffington...ouch. However, the real problems started after about 10 miles when my (Donnie) knee injury (from tackling the Cotswolds in too high a gear) worsened. Just as well we picked up a handy physio in London! Matty got to work and quickly sorted out a makeshift strap to try and correct a shift in my knee due to tight muscles on one side. This worked for a large stretch of the day but after 50 miles of repetitive cycling it was clear that no amount of strapping was going to lessen the pain. It's amazing how morale sapping this injury was for me today; the thought of having to stop so early was truly gutting. However, the team pulled together and Chris managed to contact his cousin who kindly offered to put us up for the night in Gosport; a 7 minute ferry from Portsmouth. A flat cycle to Gosport and a bed for the night was clearly too much good news for one day as we encountered a boxer dog on the loose. As I cycled past the dog my panniers bounced which startled the dog and sent it into a bit a of rage as it went for the next thing that it could get at....Matty and his bike! A couple of superficial scratches later and a slightly chewed tire and we were back on track, arriving at Chris' cousin's flat right next to the quay. Never the ones to miss a good photo opportunity we lined up and took a snap then quickly got down to ordering an Indian for tea. 

 

Even this proved to be a bit of a task as there was a severe language barrier between Char and the takeaway as both sides struggled to communicate her bank card number. In the end, Christine, Chris' cousin's fiancee couldn't handle any more and decided to drive us down to the takeaway to pick it up instead of having to endure another twenty minutes of torture. It was worth it in the end as we all destroyed a vast amount of curry. On that note, it's amazing how much we eat whilst cycling and even on the days off; all that food and no love handles at the end of it...can't complain!

(For more info on our journey check out http://www.cycle-to-sahara.co.uk/)