Well today was my Marmite day, I loved it because its completion means we are now just 41 miles away from Hamelin, but I hated it because it was bloody hard work!!

I felt OK when I woke up, tired obviously, but no more so than any other day this week and I had a good breakfast as normal, but once I got on the bike I just had nothing left. My legs were so weary, exhaustion had well and truly set in so the first stint of our 88 mile day (which was just over 40 miles long) was a real struggle and a mind game all the way.

I kept willing myself on and tried to distract myself, even resorting to trying to remember German phrases from my school days (yes it was that bad!!) but until we stopped for lunch I did wonder if I was going to be able to go the distance. All I could think was I hated my bike and was sick of being on it. It reminded me of that classic moment when Steve Redgrave said he would never get in a boat again after that historic Olympic win in 2004.

It sounds silly but all I wanted was a hug from my Mum (they are the best right?!) but in the absence of that the team supplied me with cuddles really rallied round got me through the day which also had other eventful moments.

Poor Matt broke the gear cable on his bike early in the day so now only has two or three gears for the rest of the trip. Woody took a tumble after leaning on a bollard he thought was stable enough to hold his weight on the bike, but instead, much like Del Boy falling through the bar, it had hilarious results!! &last but not least, one of our support vehicles broke down leaving Ashley and Charlotte stuck about 13 miles away from our final destination for about three hours!!

As I sit and write this blog entry, it's just gone 10.30pm on Thursday and they have still not reached us with our bags so we're unshowered and feeling pretty helpless as they try to get a non-English speaking RAC man to help! So dinner tonight was a Burger King meal for six!

However, it's not all bad, we have had confirmation from Jonjo's donor he will definitely be in Hamelin to see us Friday evening so that's amazing and has rounded off a day of plenty of highs and lows nicely. Not long to go now!!

Visit www.justgiving.com/lauren-hockney1 or text Bpos01 £5 to 70070 to make a donation.