Warm welcome awaits Jo and team at West House

After 230 miles and six days in the saddle I finally made it to West House, Penarth, at 4.40 this afternoon. And what a welcome, but more of that later…

Anna and I set off from Talybont at 8.30 this morning following an excellent breakfast courtesy of the Star Inn. We had a fairly easy ride for the first few miles but we knew we had a huge climb ahead before reaching Pontsticill Reservoir. We eventually resorted to pushing the bikes up the hill but even that took us 20 minutes.

The route became easier as we skirted the reservoirs and followed the Taff Trail into Merthyr Tydfil to meet up with Liz, Derek and Fiona. We arrived at Rhyd-y-Car leisure centre to find that Fiona had caused chaos by accidentally setting off the fire alarm which resulted in a complete evacuation of the building (see Fiona’s account of the incident on the messageboard page). Fortunately the cafe was up and running again by the time Anna and I arrived so it was coffee and toast all round before heading off for the next part of the charity bike ride.

We travelled through Abercanaid, Troedyrhiw, Aberfan, and then followed a very quiet part of the trail to Abercynon where we stopped for lunch at the Navigation Inn. We enjoyed a well-earned drink outside the pub before being forced to eat our lunch indoors when the rain started.

From then on it was pretty much plain sailing as we travelled south to our finish point. The weather had been ok for most of the journey but we hit heavy rain as we cycled through Cardiff, but at least we were now only five miles from the finish.

There was a tremendous turnout at West House, home of Crossroads’ offices, when we arrived late afternoon. It was great to receive such an enthusiastic welcome from family, friends, colleagues and Carers. The Mayor of Penarth, Councillor John Fraser, gave a reception in the parlour of West House before the party dispersed and I went home for a much-needed bath.

Donations are still arriving at West House on a daily basis so I intend keeping the blog going so that I can update you all on how we are doing. Sponsorship has reached 70% of our £4,000 target so far.

I cannot thank enough all the people who have given me so much support and guidance before and during the Wheels across Wales charity bike ride: Dan Mason who set up this website and was responsible for the press release; the team at Crossroads in the Vale who are a constant source of support (and great fun to work with); husband Neil who was a reassuring presence during the ride; and everyone else who showed so much enthusiasm and support throughout the planning of this venture; and, of course, all my sponsors whose generosity is greatly appreciated.