Last day at work as both myself and Paul have taken annual leave on Friday so we can get up to Fort William for the registration and 'Pasta Party'. I think Catriona, our senior technician, and work disher-outer has forgotten as more jobs land on our benches. We say nothing and sneak out at end of day, hee hee! (it will still be there when we get back though)
Get home to check I have all my gear ready, laying it out all over the living room carpet, cycling stuff in first pile, boots trainers and stuff for first hiking section and so on. Then I start moving some stuff from one pile to another and then to another and in the end it all gets thrown into a black bin bag and piled into the car.
Paul on the other hand is still trying to get his bike back from the repair shop. It is still with Billy Bilsland's Cycles, and what with all the good weather and folks just getting paid, the cycle shop is chocca. 7 pm and the bike has still not been looked at and Paul is a wee bit concerned, no Paul is a big bit concerned. I think the guy at Bilsland's is called Neil and he pulled out all the stops for Paul, he fitted another new rear gear cog and told Paul that he would cycle his bike home to road test it and if it was still dodgy he would lend Paul his own bike, service or what!! Brilliant.
Another problem was his car which needed a new exhaust and was booked in Friday morning, not very good with timing is our Paul.
Friday 4th
Lorraine and I take off for Fort William, car packed as if we were touring the highlands for a month. Beautiful day and lovely drive up Loch Lomandside. We meet up with my cousin Roy and his wife Pauline and also my mum, bless her. If you have ever been to Fort William before you would not have recognised it today, the ground was dry and the sun was shining. It was, people have shorts on and everything!
We went along to the Nevis Centre, where we had to register etc. The organisation was in full flow and Maggie's volunteers were taking names giving out 'goody bags' to the participants, T-shirts, energy bars, torches and loads of other stuff. We decided to wait until Paul and his team arrive before I would register etc.
When Paul finally got his car back and his bike was pronounced fit for duty he arrived up at FW late afternoon and went straight to registration, got his goody bag and stuffed his face with the fantastic pasta meals which the caterers were dishing out. We arrived shortly afterwards. Hugs all round with our respected contingents, Paul, Lynne and Pauline to my Lorraine, Mum, Roy and Pauline.
Bands playing and meeting up with some of our fellow Bike and Hikers, I also met Steven from the 'Tldads' team who has also been writing a blog on his teams lead up to the event. He has been suffering with a suspected fallen arch and is cagey about his chances of finishing but he was well up for it and I know he will do his best. Come on Steven!!
8pm 'Safety Briefing'
Up to now everybody is in party mood, laughing, eating, chatting etc and then one of Maggie's guys steps up on the stage and starts to go through the stages. The more he talks the quieter the massive crowd gets until you could hear a pin drop. Looking around, peoples faces (Paul's) were getting whiter and I was struggling to swallow. This was certainly not going to be any Sunday school outing.
After the briefing we all went our separate ways to our B&B's etc.
Our start time was 7 am and we had to be up and at the start for 6:30. That wasn't that much of a problem as I didn't sleep much. Paul and his crew were in a hostel and his fellow hosteliers were not that bothered that Paul and his team had an early start and they were partying well into the early hours, not much sleep for Paul either!
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