And so it begins ! Today was a travelling day....I set off from Cheshire at 09:00 and drove south to Camberley to pick Kevin up from his home at about 12:30. After that is was some logistical car shuffling in preparation of the London race in 8 days time.....picking a hire car up from Heathrow and dropping my car off at Kevin's offices nearby. By 2pm all this was done and dusted and we set off towards Belgium.....only to grind to a halt 15 minutes later on the London Orbital Car Park.....better known as the M25!
We were heading for the Euro-Tunnel at Folkstone for a 16:50 train and fortunately the delays were not too long and we pulled in nicely to the check in station on time at about 16:10....just enough time to grab a coffee and for Kevin to buy a paper and a pot of Vaseline....I don't know what the girl in W H Smiths thought when two middle aged blokes wandered in and asked for a large tub of Vaseline, we did get some funny looks....I'm not sure she was totally convinced by the "running a marathon tomorrow" explanation !Today was my first trip on Le Shuttle and I have to say I was impressed with the speed and efficiency of the operation....35 minutes after loading we were pulling away from the train on the French side which is much quicker than the ferry.....although the views are no way near as good!
After this it was a 2 hour drive through NE France and into Belgium before we arrived in Gent and found our hotel, The Europa Hotel which seems very nice.After checking in it was off to dinner for me to drink beer and Kevin to carbo-load on pasta.....I think I had the better deal !
So....all is now in place, the first marathon of our challenge is tomorrow morning at 10am....it is going to be a long week I think.
There is still time for people to pledge some sponsorship for Kevin at his Just Giving Website, just follow the link.
Distance travelled today: 725km
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