When I set off last Friday, to ride the rickshaw to London, I had no idea what fun it would turn out to be, or how long it would take. I estimated 20 miles a day max., and on that basis, expected to take two weeks. Well, it's taken 11 days, and we covered 320 miles in the end, so - not bad for an old bird on a big bike! We have met some lovely, generous people, and seen parts of the UK that we would never otherwise have visited. We have been incredibly fortunate with the weather, something that could have wrecked the whole exercise if it had been bad, and I guess I've been lucky not to have been run into on a country lane at some stage.
Today was always going to be special. I had imagined someone from Oxfam might meet us, maybe the odd bit of jollity, flag waving, etc. (we did have good wishes from Boris J, whom Tina had e mailed, but he was too busy to come and sit in the back for a mile), so in the end we had a splendid reception from Nelson, the new owner of the rickshaw, who was waiting at the end of their road as we came down from Richmond Park. Tina and Rob came with us for the first 15 miles - round Windsor Castle, alongside the Thames at Runnymede, and through the urban jungle that is the outskirts of Staines. They turned back just at the interesting part, sadly, to reclaim their car, so Frank and I went on alone to Sudbury, Hampton Court, and finally Richmond Park. It was only as we were puffing up the road towards the top, that I remembered the song "sweet lass of Richmond Hill" - and realised that we were pedalling up what the title referred to. As we descended the heavens opened, and we finished as we had started: soaking wet. Frank had clocked up a magnificent 31 miles on his bike, something he hasn't done for a very long time, and is very pleased about - not many 80 year olds pedal those distances in a day.
We celebrated with tea and flapjack, at Rachel and Nelsons, then stripped the rickshaw of it's flags, poster etc., walked to the station and caught a train to Reading.

End of the adventure.

Thanks for reading this, I have enjoyed writing it. Will count up my bucket's contents and let you know what they add up to.