Day 3 - Sunday 13th September

Day 3.... A bit cloudy and cool... great for climbing hills and there's plenty of them..
After a 'photoshoot' with the St Teresa's T shirts at Nenthead Mines we were off.... climbing again... straight up Black Hill the highest point on the C2C at 609 metres, down & up then a long downhill to Allenheads, followed by another steep climb where the support team met us at the County Durham border. By now the support team were well 'drilled', deck chairs at the ready, newspapers being read and off course the kettle on...., by now they were becoming quite domesticated... cleaning the stove & mugs immediately, but new today was 'formation' parking to make a windbreak as it was quite cool.
Next was the downhill run to Rookhope.... heavenly, & then once again 'payback' with a climb out of Rookhope to Stanhope and then.... Crawleyside Bank, before eventually making the Parkhead Hotel where we once again met the owner Lorraine Turnbull(1st training ride) and had ourselves a well earned break and of course - custard !! Joined by Walter (Ann's 2nd Dad) we set of again
Downhill now - all the way (nearly) to Consett (Jon's family waving us on our way), Stanley, where we were joined by Christine Wheatley & Diane Wood who had cycled out from Sunderland... and then on to Chester le Street and Washington where we had our last refreshment stop with the team. Andy & Bron (& the kids) and Joan Hopps were there and we made the most once again of the Jaffa Cakes before heading on the final leg to Sunderland... meeting Gary & Zoe on the way....
Once the home of North East Premier league football came into sight - The Stadium of Light, we were almost home and dry, following the River Wear as it meandered out to join the North Sea.
As we cycled the last few hundred yards to the beach it was great to be greeted by all our families and friends who had also given us tremendous support before and throughout the ride.

As we touched our wheels back into the water to finish I think we all had thoughts of why we had done the ride, of the fact that 'We do like to be beside the seaside' and that 'Mr Absolutely Average' - Chris Barber, would have been very proud of what we'd achieved for the hospice.

THANKS to everyone who has cared, shared & helped with the experience...
From the cyclists - a BIG - Thank You to Andy, Ray, Phil & Dave who supported us not only with refreshments but some brilliant 'humour' which kept us smiling when we could well have been crying !! and to Andy & Bron who got all the bikes to Whitehaven & met us at Sunderland and then took them all back to Durham.
We've now got the cycling 'bug', after 141 miles and the completion of the Absolutely Average C2C Tour 2009 what lies ahead for 2010....... Watch this space for the next instalment :-)