Well 3 days completed on our sponsored ride and tonight we have the luxury of sleeping in our own beds because we reached Wick Court today so far 168 miles covered in 2 and half days of cycling. Sat saw us start in deepest Devon in the rain in the early afternoon-thankfully it stopped and apart from one downpour on the highest climb it wasn’t too bad. The campsite about five miles from Exeter was like a paddy field-the ground squelching when you walked on it. The meal and beer in the Beer Engine was worth the effort!

Sunday it was dry! My David had chosen a great route through country lanes, wooded valleys with great views. It was a slog about 76 miles but Clare had met us with tea and cakes after 2 hours pedalling to keep us going. The last  part of the ride was through the Somerset Levels which was great. The campsite was dry! Tea and cake greeted us at the end thanks to our wonderful support team.

Today was typical Bank Holiday weather-unforgiving rain and torrential as we approached the last part. our Peter called in at the pub to say Hi. He was betting on the football yesterday and made £41 which he donated to our Just Giving Page -not sure I should be encouraging this but very touched. Fantastic cake and tea made by Heather at Wick Court finished off our very wet day! Tomorrow it is over the Severn Bridge into Wales! David is starting off wearing a Tiger Suit! We are now over half way towards our target of £3000. Next update will probably be Saturday night. Just need to rest the aches and pains now!

The Great ride starts on Saturday in deepest Devon-forecast doesn’t look great just hope the thunder storms have finished by the time we start. I am getting quite excited about it all-the logistics of moving camping kit,food etc I think is sorted. Today George, Brian and I stood outside Shire Hall with a bike on a turbo charger (think that is what they are called-a static bike that you can pedal) to promote our ride and collect donations. Not sure what we raised but hopefully it was a decent contribution-exhausted by our efforts and the pedal in and out of Gloucester. Thank you to those who have already donated if any of you haven’t yet our just giving page is www.justgiving.com/brian-dimmock

Last weekend Clare and I went away in Cedric to the midlands taking in Roman Wroxeter and Ironbridge. Really enjoyed both places. Social life continued out Tuesday with a couple of mates and last night saw my brother Mike and sister Liz in Cardiff and other family members for a meal in Cardiff,   lovely.

Still working on reading through my story about Misty the Magician (adding the odd paragraph in places to clarify events) won’t touch it now till after the ride. Hopefully next blog will be on Monday (we have that night at home as it is on the route) so should be able to give a progress report. My aim is to start trying to interest publishers from October onwards.

The st

I posted the possibility of my poor body playing 3 games of cricket in 3 days! Well with tomorrow’s game already off it will be 0 in 3! Had to get my miles in on the bike instead! Doing my training route regularly I aim for Dursley up Cam Pitch and then that steep hill up from Lister’s (a real tester) and on to eastington and Whitminster- just under 22 miles at a decent lick. Will probably do a good ride  tomorrow.

I have run a roller coaster with my football team this week. Saw them win with style on Tuesday at Kidderminster and then chewed my nails tonight watching them on the internet at Hyde-we won-just! So no stress on Saturday this week.

Book Club meal was another successful evening. We always surpass ourselves with our cooking. Was pleased with my fish stew recipe-very tasty.

The Cheltenham Literature Festival booklet arrived this week so we will decide what we will go for this weekend.

Tonight we are meeting to go over arrangements for the Cycle Ride. Route is sorted, we are camping each night and all sites are booked. Just the practicalities like getting to the start, number of tents, carrying equipment etc. Just had my bike “Sir Gawain” serviced and expensive tyres put on, actually rode my old bike “Shadowfax” yesterday and realised what a good bike is it.

Tomorrow night I get my first chance to watch the Mighty Hatters at Kidderminster always a good trip super pub near the ground and food in the ground is a cut above normal football fare!

The social whirl carries on Wednesday night is one of our themed Book Club meals (at my house)-it is on a French theme because we are reading Madame Bovary. So doing a fish stew for my contribution.

Then I could be playing cricket Thursday, Friday and Saturday and that will be it for the season because of the ride-will be interesting to see how the body is on Sunday!

I have at last finished writing my story Misty the Magician. I may think of a different title for the story. I now need to spend time editing the whole thing-this needs to be on two levels – How does it hang together and then proof reading the whole thing. Feel chuffed with the whole process and have learnt much about story writing.

Peter swapped tickets with us so we went into the Olympic Park to watch Handball. Really enjoyed being in the park-watched Bolt’s semi-final 200 metres on the big screen. Wonderful to be in such a cosmopolitan environment. The wild flowers were delightful and there was plenty of space. The volunteers were impressive. The whole thing has been done brilliantly-well done Seb Coe and friends.

Looking forward to go to the Olympics tomorrow. We are seeing Volleyball at Earl’s Court thanks to my Peter’s generosity.

Did more on my story, almost there-50 pages almost 18000 words! I will then have to work hard on editing and seeing if it hangs together. May not be able to write over the next few weeks with the cycle ride coming up and I am very busy with my voluntary work with the local Children’s Centres; we are putting in a bid as a local consortium to run them as a charity.

And finally football starts on Saturday, I won’t be watching the Mighty Hatters on Saturday but will be watching  them next Tuesday! Will hope that 4 years of hurt finally ends this season! Will write about sport at the weekend.

The soggy cricket season continues-we started our game today although pitch was very damp. We managed 19 overs before the heavens opened. It is very depressing-here we in August and I don’t feel the season has started-I think we have lost more games to the weather than we have played.

I have been clocking up the miles on the bike-feeling good on the hills-must make sure I stay fit!

Enjoyed watching Bradley yesterday-what a ride again! He has always been a hero for me mainly for his honesty, ability and being himself. I got very excited in 2009 when he finished 4th in the Tour de France -a Brit 4th-I remember Robert Millar in the 80s when he won the King of the Mountains doing well! 2010 was a disappointment but my goodness didn’t he respond well-unlucky to break his collarbone last year when he looked in with a chance. Then all this year he has looked good in all the races. Hopefully we will now see more people getting their bikes out.

Training for the big ride is going well after my ride across Ireland. (thanks everyone for sponsoring us don’t forget the Just Giving site is www.justgiving.com/brian-dimmock ) I try to do at least around 100 miles a week with some real climbs. Last night I had chain trouble on the A38  sadly no support vehicle with a mechanic in it to help. Hands very mucky-no easy way!

Playing cricket this afternoon-only just recovered from my two games at the weekend.

I went to the W.W.T. on Tuesday to see the Long Billed Dowitcher-took nearly 2 hours to spot it in amongst a flock of Godwits!