Stage 64 Dartmouth to Seaton – The Final Day
It’s Monday evening and I’m trying to understand all that has taken place over the last 9 weeks. I’ve met hundreds of people and explored 4,500 thousand miles of coastline. I’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of complete strangers and staggered by the beauty of our country. I’ve had tears in my eyes as people shared their personal stories of pain and loss related to prostate cancer and tears in my eyes to see the magnificent beauty of where the land meets the sea and how they shape each other.
To ride on the first Great Tour and to represent The Prostate Cancer Charity has been such a privilege and such an honour and one that I’ll never forget. It has been a daily journey and the destination just a resting place. On the way I’ve watched day riders give absolutely everything to complete a stage, children donate their pocket money for the charity as it seemed the right thing for them to do and many an adult make donations that would take a day’s work to replace.
So what of our final day, well I can hardly remember the first half. We had our photo taken outside the Britannia Royal Naval College (see pic), crossed the Dart and the Exe by ferry and outside the new RNLI station in Exmouth we were joined by many local riders as well as many of our past core riders. Thanks guys for coming along, you are all “The Great Tour” 
We pedalled onto Seaton and eventually gathered at Seaton Hole on Old Beer Road where we were met by so many more cyclists as well as a tractor towing a giant bicycle prepared by Axe Valley Pedallers. The procession set off and Seaton seemed to erupt as we cycled down to the seafront. “Thank you” all for such a fantastic welcome
It was then off to the Yacht Club for some food, photos and an emotional goodbye. I could write so much more and thank so many people, but I need to gather my thoughts a little more and space as ever is short. That said, I would like to add a personal note of thanks to Chris Davies of Qoroz who turned up with a magnum of champagne (see pic of Chris holding the bottle). Chris you are a gentleman and a kind and generous man, it was a perfect present and a fitting way to end the final photo shoot of The Great Tour.
I rode the Qoroz Road Won yesterday in The Prostate Cancer Challenge Ride, a Qoroz without it’s rack, panniers, mudguard, gps and horn! It felt like a caged bird set free for the first time in 9 weeks and it was all I could do to hold it back and cycle along my friends and family! I love this bike!
