Wow! What a day it's been full of highs and really memorable moments that I will always cherish.

We left Haverhill in glorious sunshine and before we knew it we had crossed into the Braintree district and back into Essex - another milestone! We then made our way through the villages and undulating terrain of Mid Essex and into the north of the county - my manor!

As we reached the outskirts of Colchester I took the "yellow jersey" and led the team up to Colchester General Hospital. As a born and bred Colchester girl it made sense for me to be up at the front, mainly because I knew where I was going! But it was a great feeling and the familiarity of being back in my home town was great too - even though it was a tad tempting to wave the rest of the team goodbye when almost passing my own front door!

We were given a very warm welcome by the hospital's communications manager Mark Prentice and director of nursing in haematology Jo Tonkin and her team. For a moment we felt like celebrities with members of the local press, including Wendy and Steve Brading at the Gazette, coming along to take photos & interview us about how the ride has gone so far. It left us all buzzing and really brought home the enormity of what we're doing.

 

Gazette:


A personal highlight for me was my sister Amy and eight-month-old nephew Teddy coming along to support us, along with my good friend Louise and her daughter Imogen, two. Seeing a friendly face or two gave me & the team a real boost, I can't thank them enough for coming!

After lunch and  saying goodbye to our "fans" it was onwards to Harwich. We pedalled out of Colchester through Ardleigh, Mistley, Bradfield and Ramsey (a far from flat end to a day's cycling with 140 miles already in our legs!!) before arriving at the Mayflower Brewers Fayre restaurant and the end of day three.

We then popped to Dovercourt swimming pool for a quick cool down dip and shower before we returned to the Mayflower for our evening meal. Ryan and his team there were brilliant and really made us feel special, even laying on a couple of bottles of bubbly to wish us luck with our onward journey, thanks to a call from my Mum to let them know what we were doing - you're a star Mum!

So day four awaits and marks our first stint on the continent! Holland here we come!!

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