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It has been a great day with some real highlights.

1) Martin at Facchini Cycles gave me an allen key

2) I met John and Mark from www.bloodrun.co.uk It was tremendous to meet and goes down as a real highlight of the whole tour. TOP GUYS,

3) I went to a great BNI meeting at Vision Hartlepool. As good as it gets.

4) Ecademist Stuart McMullen has offered me a bed in his beautiful house in Durham City for tonight,

5) Neil from BNI Vision has offered me his spare cycle jacket and has made efforts to get it to Thornaby tomorrow. (3 days in driving rain wearing only football shirts was NOT a highlight

6) Stuart Drummond the mayor of Hartlepool called me to give me a super endorsement and to offer the best wishes of all the citizens of his town

7) Had a great visit to club 39 Hartlepool United. On to pitch, local press etc etc!

8) Middlesbrough confirmed a timed visit to their club on Friday (Kindly organised by BNI Fortress’ Matt Sibley) That will be the Big 40!

9) Ecademist Claire Jarrett kindly sponsored four days’ expenses.

10) Ecademist Keith Whitney has offered a room in Hereford next month.

DAY 63 Back on the road!

In Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham. Feels good to be on the road again (despite the driving rain) and I am looking forward to making progress south. Four BNI breakfasts this week – Tynemouth, Bishop Auckland, Dalton Piercy and Thornaby.

There are also Middlesbrough and Hartlepool Football Clubs to visit. That will make 40 of the clubs completed and will finish the first half of the 92 by next week. Then I’m on my way “home”.

BUT before I knock off the grounds I have to be sensible and realise I am not 100% fit yet so I was very grateful for an early night before the Fortress meeting.

I had heard a lot about this chapter and from the minute I walked through the door I was impressed. As I write this (day 63), BNI Fortress gets my vote as the best chapter I have visited….bar none. Yes, there have been several excellent chapters and chapters like Wallington and Chariots were bigger but I think Fortress has the edge. Everything was impressive – from the room lay-out, to the slick manner in which breakfast was served, to the way that visitors were treated, to the quality and number of referrals. Not only that but the Chapter Director, Phil Graham, had arranged for a professional photographer to be present to capture my visit for posterity, for a representative of Bishop Auckland FC to say, “hi” and for the local radio station to interview me. Respect!

Fortress Chapter, Bishop Auckland

Well the BIG news is that I am back on my bike (…although taking things easy and slowly!)

The day started at Priory BNI. It was not one of the bigger chapters but I was met with enthusiasm (…and a little incredulity that I was looking to continue!) The chapter was mercifully walking distance from David’s house and it was a pleasure to attend a breakfast meeting. Oh dear! Carlisle seemed a loooooong time ago!

From there it was back to David’s to tidy up and take my first hesitant pedals. It felt good! So off I set in the pouring rain to Bishop Auckland. I was stiff and most parts of my body were hurting when I eventually aqua-planed into town!

Priory BNI

Oh what a day!

After what has been one of the most difficult weeks in my life I had a real “high” of a day. In quick succession I had three great meetings and I want to share them with you.

Often we say in English, “It was a pleasure to meet”. That is polite and shows respect for the person you met. Today, I can say, “It was a privilege to meet”

1)

2)

3) Whiptail Cycles I am totally humbled by the support I have received by Ben at Whiptail Cycles. Last year he sorted Bjorn’s bike when others had failed. This year he has excelled even beyond that. I literally poured a collection of parts from the crashed bike on to his workshop floor and asked him what he could do with that jigsaw puzzle. He was not phased by this and said that a bike was a collection of spare parts and it was simply a matter of putting them all together again. Please compare that with another shop who were looking to sell me a new bike at 1200 GBP without even seeing my damaged bike. What I did not see was a huge poster saying that they could not take any more repairs until further notice! Ben remembered Bjorn and knew of the project and promised to assist. Today I collected the bike that was now all in one piece after he had re-assembled it and had given it a full service. I am embarassed to mention the price. Ben, it is a privilege to know you and as a small token of my appreciation I hope you will accept being a “friend”of the project. Respect!

“The Man”

Today, I was talking to my great friend, professional cartoonist (and all round good guy) Simon Ellinas. He has made me an incredible offer. He will draw YOU on “my” tandem for just 20 pounds sterling (less than 25 euros)! If you would like a unique souvenir of the journey or just something to scare the mice, please send me a photo and Simon will do the rest.

Here you see two great supporters of TheShirt

Mike from Coys Cars

John from Guide2Valencia

The actual cartoon is much bigger 1240 x 1325 so you can see it is tremendous value. Thanks, Simon.

The 2010/2011 Football Season kicks off!

Yes, precisely 6 days after I saw the last games of the 2009/2010 season, I am at a pre-season friendly between Whitley Bay and Glossop.

I had a special interest as both clubs have supported Bjørn with shirts and I had also visited the Derbyshire club. It was an entertaining game played in the pale Northumbria sun and the home team shaved an end-to-end game 1-0 with a nice header 10 minutes from time. Almost 100 Hillmen (and women!) made the long trip nothwards and intriguingly many weere dressed in Hawaii-style dress. I guess that two sets of supporters who “enjoy” some of the worst weather in the UK hoped to get some summer …. but I was dressed in a heavy anorak against the North Sea winds! I wish both clubs well in 2010/2011.

I closed my eyes and went to heaven

….no, I’m not talking about my near-death experience a week ago but my discovery of “The Back Page“/ (Photo below) Those who know me well, know that I am a huge collector of football memorabilia and in the “Remake of Towering Inferno” that starred everything I own rather than Steve McQueen, I lost over 2,000 programmes never mind books, CDs, tapes, DVDs, CDs etc etc. There were I remember over 720 Gillingham programmes, 500 Man Utd programmes, 400 Rugby League Programmes and 400 various programmes and magazines from a dozen plus countries. Sad! (….or words to that effect!)

Today was my first real day out and I decided to have a quiet day sightseeing in Newcastle and Sunderland. It’s a long, long time since I had free time here and I really enjoyed travelling around the area. For just 8 pounds you can get a whole day pass that gets you on the buses, the excellent metro and the ferry. I took good advantage of the ticket! I was wandering around near Newcastle United’s St James’Park and stumbled over The Back Page which is a veritable Alladin’s Cave of memorabilia. It claims to be the “World’s largest football memorabila and bookshop”. I have certainly seen nothing better and it dwarves Sportspages. It has far more non-mainstream books and literally thousands of programmes from every club in the UK and many international teams too. I had a happy 30 minutes here and will be back on Monday when I will have more time. Happy Days!

From there I went to ground 37, Newcastle United. To be honest it did not feel the same walking rather than cycling and I was still feeling a bit woozy so I took a couple of photos and moved on.

Funny after 45 minutes on the train, a coffee and something to eat how the world seems a better place! I had not seen Sunderland’s new Stadium of Light since I had moved to Spain and it IS impressive. It’s not as big as St James Park but it stands out well on the skyline and the stately entrance gates give it a certain grandeur that few clubs can match.

BUT ….. and I have said this one thousand times, football is about people and not bricks and mortar and Sunderland had all the trump cards here. Firstly, I met Danny in the car park. He has been a supporter for over 60 years and we had a super 15 minutes together as he relived moments from Stokoe, Hurley, Ashurst etc Then I was shown around by the charming Rebecca Seymour who obviously loves her job and the club. I passed on Bjorn’s best wishes and told her that the Sunderland shirt they had donated last year when he was in the North East was flown with pride at the World Cup. She was grateful for that update. Ground 38. Not the best week with only two new grounds but considering how I was 7 days ago I must be pleased. Thanks for all your support.

On the mend

For the first time in a week, I went out of the house and had a walk through the town. Nothing massively football- or refugee- related I am afraid but if felt good to get some fresh air back into the lungs.

I also had emails from Bjørn saying that he was tidying up in South Africa and that he would be home this week. A 12 hour flight after a 12 month journey! What a hero. He reminded me that now the World Cup is over that the plight of the refugees must not be forgotten about and I promised to keep on cycling, keep on spreading the word of the UNHCR and keep on reminding people that there may be one less cyclist on the long road from Norway to South Africa but that there are still 45 million refugees. This is a huge and obscene figure and we remind everybody that this number is set to increase. Please continue to follow me whether you are interested in cycling, football, Ecademy, BNI or social media but remember WHY I am doing what I do. Thanks.

Sorry ….really nothing more to say. I “lost” most of day 56 to an ocular migraine and to the defoliating effects of tarmac. Ladies, all those defoliants you buy in the chemist stores are nowhere near as effective as tarmac I assure you!

Anyway, I look to learn something from every day and I have found today that

1) An ocular migraine that allows you to “see” six screens at once does not mean that you can get six times the amount of work done at once. It means you are lucky if you can get one sixth of the work done that you normally can.

2) The good people at Ecademy are working tirelessly in the background to assist me in this trip. Thanks particularly to all who contributed to this thread started by the ever-supportive Georgina Lester.

If you are not already a member of Ecademy please let me have your details and I will send you a complimentary introductory membership. My little way of thanking those who have supported me.

My whole journey also got a huge “lift” when the owners of www.doingthe92.co.uk recognised my efforts and even placed my banner on their front page. This is very significant as this site brings together all those fans/fanatics/idiots (choose your favourite word!) who are looking to visit all the 92 grounds. Obviously none have cycled the entire route but it is a source of great information for all who are interested in the grounds of England and Wales. They focus on those who see an actual game at each ground but it is a great resource and I am delighted to be linked to it.

The very least I could do was to make them sponsor of the day! Talking about sponsors, I got some vague promise from my main “sponsor” that I would be paid next Monday. Whilst 19th July is good, 19th April would have been more in keeping with your agreement. Anyway, let’s see because if they do pay that will cover the bike and medicaments for this week. Happy Days.

Things are getting back to normal.

David and I travelled over to Hexham by car to collect my bike from the police station and it looks as if all is well with it. We found a great cycle shop (that Bjorn had used last year!) and he has promised to get the bike back together by next Monday. This means it will be ready before I am!! At the moment it’s in a few pieces but he seemed to think that a bike was like a jigsaw and provided that none of the pieces were broken you could take it to pieces and put it back together as often as you liked.

I also got a really nice email from Nigel Dickinson at Carlisle United wishing me well. (I was on my way from Carlisle’s ground when the accident happened). By chance, he is also a cyclist and by a wicked stroke of fate he was also in a bad crash recently. We are comparing bruises. Get well soon, Nigel!

How I got to Nigel is quite interesting and is a huge endorsement for BNI and a testimony to what BNI really CAN do – I was struggling to get a top level contact at Carlisle United but BNI Edwin, Carlise came up with FIVE contacts from four separate members. 45 minutes later I was at Brunton Park the home of the local club. Their Operations Manager was delighted to get good PR for the club and I was delighted to get great photos. Thanks all at BNI Edwin and Nigel Dickinson at Carlisle United. In particular, I would like to thank Nicky Hill from the RBS who even made a call to Nigel asking for his assistance. Thanks, all.

The bruising is going down, the scars are getting smaller and all the normal colours are coming back to my skin. I will lose one finger nail but that’s an absolute insignifcance. The police said how lucky I had been and apart from using the tarmac as a defoliant on my face and legs there is no real harm done. Sadly, it has put all appointments back one week so there is some juggling to do but it could all have been a lot worse.

Today, we also got a shirt from Walsall throught Graham Parry. The chairman heard how I had been treated and wanted to make amends so sent a signed shirt. Thanks Walsall – you are now erased from my list of shame.

Nigel Dickinson