Day 12 - Edinburgh Rest Day - Bike Modifications

Day of Administration. 0745 hrs and Jonathan’s phone burst into tune. ‘Hello Jonathan, this BFBS Forces Radio and your live on air – would you mind giving us an update’ ‘Urrr what’ ...what BFBS didn’t realise was that we were having a lie in. Jonathan was up and so phoned Dune FM to give them an update. The time was 0810 hrs. Edward, Bertie and Kitty (and Joanne) were listening.

Jonathan met the Quartermaster and then sorted out some accommodation for the rest of the project. The rest of the day consisted of bike, blog, knee and vehicle administration. Jonathan planned and arranged the rest of the journey. The team had agreed on one thing, Alistair would be on the bike the whole way from now. A modification on the bike meant that Ali could cycle with one leg up held on the bike clamp. The team must remain as one. Jonathan got a text from Neil Buckley (Click Sergeant) Charity who we started with on Mon 2nd June. They had just finished - we still have another 6 days to go

The computer that was sent by 42 Brigade did not work...however that didnt stop Mark from removing the back off the computer, testing all the cables and fixing the box of tricks. He is 'Techboy' - once again the team is using everbodies niche skills to the full. ...

Meanwhile Alistair found out that Hailey (Alistair's sister in law) had just given birth to a baby girl 7lb 2 oz. [Congratulations Hailey and Ashley] Another good excuse for a celebrational drink tonight...Uncle Ali was chuffed!! To celebrate Ali went and played his digeridoo on the stairwell - the acoustics was unbelievable.

The Plan (>270 miles to go)
Fri - Rest Day (Admin)
Sat - Edinburgh to Dunkeld (stay at Cadet / TA training camp) – 58 miles
Sun - Dunkeld to Newtownmore (outdoor camp) via the A7 thought the Grampian Mountains - 57 miles
Mon - Newtownmore to Inverness (TA Centre) - 45 miles
Tues - Inverness to Brora (Cadet Hut) – 55 miles
Wed - Brora to Wick (TA Centre) – 46 miles
Thu - Wick to John O’Groats – 16 miles (The end)

Finally - top tip if you find your self in an old Victorian Barracks always ensure you have an emergency toilet roll with you...Jonathan will tell you that your trip log book does not really work!