Day 8

Monday 11th August 2008.
Cumbertrees to Troon. This was a 77 miles. Generally flat trip to Troon. It sounded like an easy day, however, it was not to be, we went for a slightly later start, because we were tired from the day before, once we were ready we went for the bikes only to find that Ness’s and Ian’s bike had a puncture in the front tyre, although this did not take long to sort out it seemed to set the tone for the day, as we started, so did the rain. The first 40 miles was tough, weather it was a case of after the lords mayor’s show of day7, or if we were suffering from our late night out in Cumbertrees, all of 10.30. Anyway for what ever reason we all felt very down by the time we got to Senquhar, pronounced “Shanker”However after a bowl of Scottish soup, and a flat sausage roll the rain stopped, and we all felt a lot better. For the second half of the day it would have been difficult to recognise the riders as the same 4 who struggled so badly compared with the after lunch team that flew up hills and down slopes at incredible speeds. As we approached Troon there were mixed emotions all round we were pleased to becoming to the end of an another day in the saddle, but it was also to be the last day we would have Phil “lolly pop man” Batt as part of our team. Phil had always told us that he would not be able to continue beyond Troon, but none of the team really expected him to desert us, all week we had been devising plans that would release him from his other commitments, and all week although tempted Phil would resist and insist he had to go. Phil had an interesting way of settling in to the team, quietly spoken, Phil proved to be a mine of detailed information about the road networks in all parts of the country and what various towns or cities were famous for, although with every day Phil became more and more integrated the team, Phil will probably be most remembered for commenting, on video, on the size of Rob’s belly.
Always back on the road, Rob was pushing to get to Troon so he could be with his wife, Karen who’s parents live in troon. We were fast approaching Troon, and the last Lolly pop duties for Phil. Once in Troon we said goodbye to Phil put him on a train to the airport, and possibly recruited a lolly pop lady, but more about this in the future days, for the next couple of days the full responsibility for guiding, feeding, tending, and caring for the four cyclists relies with Gillian. The evening meal was in Scott’s by the Marina, there was no local beer of the day and our senior cycling team member refused to try the whisky.


Mileage : 77 miles

Time 5 hours 19 mins

Total : 615 miles

Beer of the day: Nothing

Overnight : South Beach Hotel Troon.