Day 8 - Saturday 19th June: Return Home

From our overnight stop in Peterborough, where we had been advised by the Police to move our bikes literally several miles away to avoid them being vandalised overnight (not joking!), we took a route via Ely, where we visited Billy Baxter, the world speed record holder for blind motorcycling. As part of his rehabilitation after having lost his sight whilst in the Army, Billy rode a Kawasaki 1200 at 164.87 mph at Boscombe Down runway in Wiltshire in August 2002, smashing the record that had previously sat at 78mph. Sadly he wasn't able to join us to ride pillion today as he was suffering from a severe ear infection that was upsetting his balance, but it was great to go and see him. And no doubt the neighbours wondered what was going on to see a dozen big motorcycles pull up in his nice quiet residential street.

From there to the Ace Cafe, to meet up with Isabel Robinson from Spinal Research, and hand over the donations we had been given on the trip. So far the total is standing at several thousand pounds, and it would be nice to take it up to a big round number.

We also met up with Mykel Nicolaou from Motorcycle News, for a few pictures, and to capture key parts of the story for publication - including interviewing Terry Friday about how the whole thing had come into being 30 years ago


Next Stop - IAM Head Office in Chiswick, to say hello and be thanked by all the IAM motorcycle staff for putting out lots of good publicity about the campaign to Be a Better Rider, and reinforcing the entente cordial between so many different volunteer IAM Motorcycle Groups right around the country. This picture makes the building look strangely empty and shut!



And then finally journey's end, back where we had started from last Saturday, Brand's Hatch, and a good sight it was to see too.


So journey's end. But not quite the end of the story.

Our 30th Birthday continues tomorrow, Sunday 20th June, with a bash at the Plough at Leigh.

And we are still keeping the donation sites and collecting tins open for another few days, to make the most of the publicity we have been generating, to allow everyone a final opportunity to make their contributions.

Thankyou so much to all of you, friends, colleagues, relatives, and those whom we simply met en-route, who have donated to our cause, and whose generosity has made such a big difference. When we have the final total added up, we'll post a final blog to announce the result. Meanwhile, thankyou all.