Hero JOGLE Relay

Having been watching the team make their way down country to the flat lands of the Fens, I was excited to be joining for a day in the saddle.  It was an early start on Friday morning which started off with an 8 mile ride into Cambridge to catch a train to our new RV at Downham Market (this was deemed easier for day riders to get to than Wisbech although it did knock a couple of miles off the total).

I arrived at Cambridge North after an extremely quiet ride along the Guided Busway.  I’d left plenty of time as the trains were a little scarce at that time in the morning and I didn’t want any potential mechanical issues to make me late.  As it turned out, I needn’t have worried. I got to the station, sorted out my ticket and managed to catch the late running earlier train which meant I arrived in Downham Market about an hour earlier than expected. Fortunately, the Downham Café was open so I made the most of an excellent coffee and croissant while I waited.

I returned to the station (our RV) at 08.30 and found that James, our mobile mechanic from YoungAgain Cycles had arrived and was waiting. As we got closer to 9.00am more people started to arrive including Carol and Maria (both friends I’d met previously on the Great Kent Cycle Ride).  The rest of the team including those that had either been riding all the way from John O’Groats (John, Neil, Jon & Tony) rolled in shortly after having been well looked after at the Wisbech Morrisons.

We left Downham Market at about 09.30 (after the support vehicle has relieved us of our overnight luggage and stocked us up with gels, cereal bars and bananas).  Our first stop was to be at the Desert Rats Memorial at Ickburgh after 19 miles.  I’ve been to Thetford Forest many times over the years and this was the first time I’d visited. We were greeted by a piper and a short ceremony was held and a wreath was laid at the memorial.

We carried on through Brandon and Elvedon, arriving at our lunch RV at 12.00 after 33 miles making pretty good time.  The support vehicle laid on a vast assortment of goodies for us – sandwiches, drinks, fruit all gratefully received.  Suitably refreshed we headed off to Bury St. Edmunds to meet Dudley Giles.  Dudley is ex Royal Military Police (more of that later) and a Battlefield Guide.  I first met Dudley on my first Help for Heroes Bike ride in 2009.  He’s a keen cyclist and has been riding as well as guiding on the Big Battlefield Bike Ride since it’s inception in 2008.

From Bury, we headed on to our next ceremony at Lavenham.  Lavenham is a beautifully preserved medieval village and home to the 487th Bombardment Group of the 8th US Army Air Force.  The group flew 185 missions and more than 6000 sorties whilst stationed at Lavenham during WWII.  The memorial is situated in the market square (with just the small matter of a cheeky 4% climb up a very narrow street to get to it!).  The support vehicles were waiting for us in the Market square so there was opportunity to fill up with more goodies and get some work done on the bikes before the ceremony.  A wreath was laid at the 487th Bombardment Group memorial and a cross of remembrance was placed at the

memorial to Jo Woodgate of the Blues and Royals who lost his life in Afghanistan in 2010.

With just 18 miles to go to Colchester it seemed like we were nearly there.  There was one final (7.7%) climb to negotiate just before Great Horkesley but on the whole the day had been ‘reasonably’ flat.  We got to the outskirts of Colchester just as rush hour was getting started so we formed a peloton to ride together to our destination at Goojerat Barracks, home to 156 Provost Company Royal Military Police.

It was fantastic to be welcomed at the finish by several local Help for Heroes Supporters.  It never fails to bring up the hairs on the back of my neck when we received such support when taking part of finishing an event.  It’s not why we do it.  We participate in Help for Heroes Bike Rides foremost to support the charity but I’d be lying if the friendship and camaraderie I’ve experience from my very first ride in 2009 wasn’t a factor in my enthusiasm to do it again and again.

Dudley had arranged for us to visit the Memorial Garden at Goojerat Barracks where our final ceremony of the day was to be held.  The memorial garden was placed in memory of the 6 members of 156 Provost Company Royal Military Police murdered by an Iraqi mob at the police station in Al Majarr Al Kabir, Maysan Province, Iraq in 2003.  The Hero JOGLE ride has been paying respects at the individual graves of the RMP 6 as part of the route and this was an opportunity to pay our respects to all of them.

After the ceremony was complete, we were able to retrieve our overnight luggage from the support van and head off to our respective hotels / lodging for a quick shower before meeting up for a wonderful meal at the Britannia and Ghurkha Restaurant to round off a memorable day.  If you ever find yourself in Colchester, this restaurant is a ‘must visit’!

We left the restaurant to return to our hotels at about 21.00, ready for an early start on Saturday…

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