Wed 28 Apr 10
I have now passed 200 miles. After re-tensioning the chain-wheel cable the bike is working well. However, the load over the back wheel with little damping load over the front introduces a resonance at speeds over 30 mph and an instability at speeds below 6 mph. This can be quite worrying, especially climbing steep hills when wobbling in overtaking traffic is dangerous. A constant low-level background fear of being knocked off builds up. It’s quite like the feeling of being on patrol – jungle ambush, or presumably IEDs in Afghanistan – sudden events beyond one’s control. This was quite appropriate to my purpose on this journey, wanting to experience in some small way what the soldiers in Afghanistan feel: exhaustion, pain, exhilaration – and fear. It gave a kind of connection to the project.
Lasting throughout the day, this fear of overtaking traffic is now uppermost in my mind, more than my concern about hills. It’s a sign that I’m getting stronger. Perhaps when I’m more used to the traffic the hills will regain their pre-eminence in my thoughts. The hills in Devon and Cornwall are tough. Cornwall redefines hills. Cornish towns and villages always seem to be built in dells, more than on the tops of hills as Mediterranean villages are, perhaps because the latter were more concerned about defence; but it amounts to the same thing for the cyclist: quaint but loathsome. My experience going west over Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor persuaded me to avoid the A30 on the return section. It runs slap through them. I would take a longer but, I hoped, flatter route round the northern boundary, even though my legs were getting stronger by the day.
Fri 7 May 10
Every pilgrimage I’ve done so far – and this was my fourth – has had a hidden lesson not guessed before setting out. It usually came clear well downstream. Today, one third the way into my journey at Carlisle, a clear understanding of my motive dawned on me. I had asked myself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ Short of martyrdom, every act we humans do has mixed motives, but there is usually one stronger than the others. Certainly one of my motives was to test myself: I’d always looked for challenges. But was that the reason this time? From the start I had said I wanted to show wholehearted support for our soldiers in their recovery from their wounds. Gradually it had been dawning on me that there was more to it: I wanted solidarity with their hopes and fears even before they became casualties. When we do that we have to share their suffering in some way, share the weight of the cross. It’s called compassion. I realized that’s why I’d been doing it the hard way, trying to find the mix of fear and tiredness, pain and uncertainty, laughter, joy and hope. In doing so I might act as a focus for the wellspring of public support in the country and raise money for Help for Heroes. Before leaving, a monk had asked whether I was looking for self-punishment. My answer was an emphatic ‘No’. I try to minimise pain or, if inevitable, accept it as part of the deal. My initial idea had not after all been far off the mark. This was my sharing; my choice; my pilgrimage.
Later, in the long drag up to Slochd Summit south of Inverness, these lofty contemplations were interrupted. I became aware of a new sharp pain vying for my attention in the soles of my feet. ‘Hello, soles of my feet. Your complaint is duly noted. Now piss off.’ It occurred to me that conversing with the soles of my feet could point to a mind finally unhinged. But I was past caring; I had to breast Slochd Summit.
Fri 28 May 10
I must admit that sometimes, when the going got tough, to being quite angry with God. This had worried me. But on reflection I realized I was like a small child who had stubbed his toe, hitting out at his father. Dads are supposed to be strong and able to do anything: why had he let me stub my toe? And of course, as a father I know my reaction would be to gather my son into my arms and comfort him. If that was true for me as a father, it was a hundred times more true of God my Father. As I was thinking about this I realized my prayers were like the psalms. Some were full of love and praise for the beauty of creation. Some were cries for help, deep from the heart. Others were full of pain and complaint that God was not listening, the ‘stubbed toe’ variety. I hope and trust God sees them like that.
Sun 30 May 10
I arrived home yesterday, Saturday 29 May. I had been told that my wife Molly, who was being looked after in France by one of my daughters, Catherine and her family, was not well and had been taken to hospital for specialist attention. I therefore booked the first available flight on Monday 31 May to be with her. For this reason, I will have to leave the final ‘tidying up’ of the account of this journey, and the assembling of all the money collected from the various sources to be sent to Help for Heroes, until she is well enough to return to England with me. In the meantime I want everyone to know how enormously grateful I am for the quite astonishing support of my challenge in so many ways. I promise in time to write a full and detailed account, thanks to the notes recorded by my son and my own jottings day by day, and to publish them on this website. Once again, my heartfelt thanks. Chris Irven