Day 6 20 April 2026
Back to the gym today and a 60 burpee warm-up! I started doing CrossFit at the end of last year and I think its going to be a real help with training for this bike ride. I certainly work harder in the gym than on my bike. The aim is to do three bike rides, three gym sessions and a swim each week.
My aim for this blog was to share all the negative and the positive experiences but feeling that I needed to keep the timeline correct, it seems to be morphing into an events diary and those early days were very depressing. So today I’m trying to change this.
When Alice died, we had lived in the same village for over thirty years. I think I knew everybody in the village, some really well and most on more than just on a nodding acquaintance. But without exception, everyone was unbelievably supportive.
In the very early days, our neighbours shared our shock, horror and grief; for they had all known Alice too. They came to the house to bring, flowers, cards, food and welcome hugs; to listen to what was happening and to express their unconditional support. We spent an enormous amount of time travelling up and down the A1 to Newcastle, but rarely stayed there, always choosing to drive back home, to be in the village and amongst the people who made us feel safe. Soon, half the village seemed to have a key to our door, so they could walk and feed the dog, fix anything broken and generally keep an eye on us.
I spent a lot of my time walking Cassie (our lovely Golden retriever) and thinking, mainly about turning the clock back and doing things differently, but I regularly met people and they were always a comfort. One villager shared a story of how his mother had lost a child, (his sibling), and how difficult she had found it. Another, quite taciturn character who I met a long way from anywhere, just gave me a silent hug. So much comfort and no words needed.
But it didn’t end there. They offered to do anything to help. Cleaning, gardening, cooking; in fact, anything they could do to make our lives easier. One family gave us an enormous box full of biscuits, another some delicious chocolate brownies – all very useful given the number of visitors we were having. I came to realise that they had organised a rota for food and in addition to the food left over from the funeral (packed up and given to us by the local pub to freeze), we went more than three months without needing to cook anything.
Even today, they are still helping and I cannot thank them all enough.
