Cycling to the sea - 77 miles in a day
It all started when Daddy was in the kitchen, chopping up carrots. He said to me "You keep asking to go to the sea, Ruth - wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could ride all the way to Kings Lynn. Would you like to try that? It’s a long way" And I said "I would love to do that!"
Daddy and I set to work. We prepared our bikes, using my Apidura bags and then putting all of the stuff inside the bags. We got our bidons and food ready. We planned to set off on Saturday, but on Saturday the weather forecast had been wrong and it was stormy, so we decided to do it the next day. Daddy suggested we get some porridge out ready for my breakfast.
That night, I lay in bed, thoughts tumbling in my head. Could I get to Kings Lynn? Would I make it up the hills? Eventually, I fell asleep.
Next day, Daddy woke me up so that I could get a move on. I got dressed and went downstairs for my porridge. I stuck my trainers on and got on my bike. My brother lent me his heart rate monitor and bike computer, so I put those on as well.
Soon, we came to the big hill out of our town, which is very steep. I changed the gear that I was in to the lowest one I had, so that it was easy to climb and not too hard. Daddy reminded me to be patient, not to panic, and to keep calm because I didn’t want to wear myself out at the beginning of the ride.
I finally got to the top of the hill and I relaxed and zoomed down the other side, and then it was flat for a while. I enjoyed it on the flat, but then another hill appeared in the distance, as we came into Irthlingborough. I gained more speed into the dip and attacked up the hill and got over in 3 seconds.
I had to climb another hill leaving Thrapston, and cross the main road. After that the road was much quieter.
I did 28 miles and arrived in Cambridgeshire before Daddy and I stopped at the side of the road to eat a sandwich each and have a drink of water. Then I had to carry on riding so that I could reach my destination.
Soon, I saw my final big hill. By now, I was sweaty and tired after riding 30 miles. I reached the top of Alconbury Hill and said"I did it! I did my last hill!" I felt so happy.
Suddenly, a sign ahead said 'ROAD CLOSED AHEAD'. I filled with fear. Could this be the end of my ride? Daddy said "let's ask the man in that van if we can go past the sign." When he said yes, cyclists were allowed, I felt relieved. We carried on to Ramsey, so I could use the toilet at Tesco. I put on my mask to go in the store. The man at the entrance was very kind and was amazed that I was riding to Kings Lynn. He said “You’re joking!” so I gave him one of my business cards so he could look us up on Twitter and see if we actually did it.
As we left the supermarket it started to rain a lot. We stopped in a bus shelter so I could put on my jacket and wait for the rain to stop. We met a man and his daughter and I gave them a card as well! My rain jacket is magic. Whenever I stop to put it on, the rain seems to go away!
It was then all flat. I shifted up my gears because we had a tailwind. Daddy came up next to me."Soon, we will be coming alongside the Ramsey Forty Foot, and ride alone a dyke." The dyke was very flat, straight and smooth. A dyke is a raised bit of land next to water. The Ramsey Forty Foot is a big drain to stop floods happening, which would spoil the crops.
After Stonea, the wind was behind us again, which was good, however, a big black cloud was chasing after us and we were in the middle of nowhere. Daddy said "race to the railway bridge to get shelter." It was then when we felt raindrops.
Unfortunately, the bridge was being worked on, so we had to carry on. Fortunately, we noticed that the rain had stopped and the cloud had missed us.
We passed a lot of houses selling all sorts of food, like potatoes, cabbages, rhubarb, and strawberries. We passed a farm selling sacks of potatoes for £5 and Daddy said "it’s a shame we can’t carry some on our bikes". We agreed that we would try to come back for some. After that, we rode towards Downham Market. At a junction, we finally turned towards Kings Lynn. Daddy explained that it was the quickest way to get there.
The road bent right, but our route went left. We were puzzled. As we got closer, we found a cycle path. We took the route and soon we arrived at Tail Sluice.
The sluice was built in 1959 to protect people and property from floods by collecting water from the River Ouse and letting it go out to sea. I had a ride over it and I got an amazing view. We carried on and arrived at Kings Lynn. I had done 77 miles from Wellingborough. We celebrated and began to explore. We found out that on the 13th December 2015, they had a high tide which flooded lots of the old buildings, which now have special doors to try to keep water out. Daddy called Mummy to bring the car to where we were. When she arrived, we loaded our bikes, got in and went home. On the way, Mummy let me buy a sack of potatoes as well. HOORAY!
That was my Incredible adventure.
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Thanks for reading my writing!
Ruth.