If ever a day was going to be hard for the cyclists then Day 4 of any grand tour is always the tester and so it proved to be as the aches and pains finally caught up with the team. Magnus complained of sore knees and Paul’s knee started to twinge as we set off to our start point at Scawby just below the Humber having traversed due east to find quieter roads on our way down towards Lincoln. By now, the hills of Northumberland and Scotland were but a distant memory as we hit the flat lands and pounded out LSD – Long Slow Distance!
The major problem now was navigation despite the seemingly straight roads down and we found that the sign-posting in the towns of Lincoln and Grantham to be the worst two offenders with everyone struggling to follow the routes through these busy towns. Jake and Naomi did an amazing job keeping everyone’s spirits up and navigating the cyclists back on course whilst keeping us fed and watered throughout the day. It’s amazing how just a simple 3 miles in the wrong direction has such an enormous psychological impact on your riding day but we got through it and eventually found the sanctuary of the George at Stamford as a final resting place for the day.
Despite the clearish skies, it had been a cold and long day and we were all exhausted by the time we met Anthony’s Uncle, Tom Bagge in Irnham where he had kindly cooked us all a fantastic supper and even invited some wonderful local friends around who were keen to hear of our journey. We had a memorable evening with Tom who, in his capacity of warden of the local church – St Andrews, took us up to the church for photos the next morning. It left us wondering whether every church in Britain was called St Andrews!
