The journey home ....

As we were doing the drive bys to let Laura of BFBS TV take some film of us on the bikes disaster struck Dambusters2012 again! This time it was Victor's engine management warning light that came on. It had done so once on the way to the dam but had then gone out again, and after a call to Triumph at Shipley Victor had felt comfortable to carry on. This time his bike was running rough and was clearly very sick! We took the decision to try and get his bike back to the UK and so, after taking the time to properly remember and commemorate the Dambusters Raid, the aircrew and the German loss of life too we started out for the Hoek van Holland! However, we only made it about 20 minutes down the roda when it became clear his problem was terminal and we pulled into some services to wait for the recovery truck! Dambusters was down to just one bike out of the original four!

The rest of the journey home was made two up on my Suzuki GSX650F - what a trooper of a bike! Mind you, as the temperature dropped to just around freezing the ride was very uncomfortable indeed. Around 4am we gave up and took shelter in a petrol station literally half a mile across the German/Netherlands border and waited for sunrise before completing the final leg of the journey to the ferry home.

Victor left the ferry at Harwich as a foot passenger, to find his hire car and make his way home to Leeds. I crunched on on my bike, solo again, to complete the Dambusters 2012 Charity Motorcycle Ride in support of HELP FOR HEROES.

The picture below was one promised to our biggest single donation so far, made by Thwaites Brewery. It shows me, on our drive at home celebrating the completion of the ride with a beer. What better choice for the riders of Dambusters2012 could there be than a beer called 'Lancaster Bomber'!! Perfect.

The Dambusters 2012 Charity Motorcycle Ride is raising awareness and funds for Help For Heroes (www.helpforheroes.org.uk ). Help for Heroes supports members of the Armed Forces who have been wounded in the service of their country. The following sums it up and is taken from a speech made by Help for Heroes Chairperson back in 2009 ....

Help for Heroes was set up October 2007 out of a desire to provide support to those members of the armed forces that are injured in current conflicts. It was born out of an immense respect for those men and women who put their lives in danger on a regular basis on our behalf. There was a basic belief, as there is now, that those who put themselves in that danger, and are unfortunate enough to be injured, deserve the very best level of support . . .

Please demonstrate your support for our troops by visiting www.bmycharity.com/dambusters2012 and donating on-line today! Thank you.