Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
clothed and without any form of bike. Oh, how we longed for a couple of carbon-fibre ra-
cing bikes, waterproof jackets and a support crew. And the Lycra was strangely alluring,
too.
The cyclist's name was John and he was about to begin his second End to End trip. He
hadcompletedthetripwithafriendafewyearspreviouslyandwantedtodoitagainalone,
with his wife following behind in the car. He was aiming to finish the trip in ten days. We
imagined we would probably still be in Cornwall in ten days. John explained that his Dad
had been a professional medal-winning cyclist and that he had always lived in his shadow.
Doing the Land's End to John O'Groats trip was his way of making his dad proud.
Once he understood that we were serious about our trip, he took a keen interest in how
we were going to go about it.
'You'll need some shoes and socks,' he said. 'Hold on, I'll be right back.' His wife took
hold of his bike and he scurried out of the door. He returned a minute later with a pair of
trainers and a pair of socks.
'Take these,' he said, worryingly out of breath for someone about to cycle to Scotland.
'I brought way too many pairs of shoes and I never wear these anyway.' They were white
leather trainers, slightly retro and a perfect fit for either of us. We thanked him gratefully
and wished him luck for his bike ride. We had earned the respect of an End to End veteran
and we had not even crossed the start line.
Ruth returned from the office holding a big box of lost property. She dropped it down
on the reception desk in front of us and our eyes scoured eagerly over the contents like a
couple of clothes perverts.
The first item that caught our eye was a pair of thick, woollen, pinstriped suit trousers.
Theyweretailor-madetofitabigfatman.BendecidedIshouldhavethem,sinceIwasthe
larger of the two of us. After trying them on, it was clear that there would have been room
for both of us. Not only were they for a big fat man, but they were also previously owned
by an extremely short fat man, or someone with a penchant for wearing their trousers at
half-mast. The trousers hung halfway down my arse, and stopped halfway up my shin. I
looked like the lovechild of a gangster and a sailor. It was EXACTLY the look I was going
for.
Also in the box were two cardigans. Ben took the trendy, skimpy black number and I
took the thick, granny blue one. We only took items that had been unclaimed forover three
months, so as not to get into trouble with any angry tenants. Although, I'm pretty sure the
'finders keepers, losers weepers' defence would have held firm. We also took a baseball
cap each. I'm not sure why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Ben had an England
footballcapwithaStGeorge'sCrossonthefront,andIhadaretroManchesterUnitedcap.
We looked like a couple of chavs. Chavs in cardies.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search