And the final whistle blows

The trip from the Premier Inn Brentford/Kew to Watford and then on to Chorleywood Common Youth FC was a bit like the final stage on the Tour de France and was a celebratory cruise. No sipping champagne along Vicarage Road though.

Full marks to my nephew Matthew for joining us on the final run in and to Roy Bennett for doing the final stretch from Vicarage Road to CCYFC.

Josh and Becs did the whole trip today which was a total of 21.7 miles and made a final overall total of 677.1 miles.

So I did it. I nailed my colours to the mast and got the job done. At many times mine was the easiest job.

I cannot stress enough what a great job Stephanie did ahead of the trip with organisation and logistics. This continued with magnificent support during the trip. Always being there or thereabouts with food, drink, reprogrammed GPS systems and words of encouragement.

I will long remember the hours with Josh and Becs and the days and days of humour in the down time. Sometimes the laughing made me ache more than the miles.

Thank you again to my Partners at Turbervilles whose committment to this challenge was fantastic.

Thank you to those who have followed the blog and who have sent messages of encouragement throughout the two weeks.

And finally thank you to those who have sponsored the challenge. The virgin money page will remain open for some days yet. To those of you who are waiting to see if the fiftysomething would do it, well he has so you have no excuse now. We are edging towards the £5050 target so please, please if you have not donated yet may I urge you to do so. You know who you are and i will be chasing you later this week.

So this is the 50/50 Challenger signing off for now. When the donation page closes off I will post again but for the afternoon at least it is feet up.

And the problem with cycles in the Blackwall Tunnel is?

I will not look back fondly at my stay in the Premier Inn Beckton as the room was so hot we had to demand a move. Sadly we could only move one floor down rather than a different place altogether but it was a little cooler. Elf'n safety dictated that you could only open windows two inches which allowed no fresh air in at all so the rooms simply got hotter and hotter during the day and clearly retained the heat at night.

It was a pleasure to get up and out and the short 1.9 mile journey to the Academy of Football.

The staff at the Boleyn Ground or Upton Park depending on your preference greeted us warmly and despite there being a lot of activity at the ground with the players in for training ahead of their game against Cardiff tomorrow, we were escorted into the Directors box where we took our pics.

From there we did the 7.0 mile journey to Charlton which was all very uneventful until the GPS system directed us to take the Blackwall Tunnel. Now my family tell me that there was a huge notice before the tunnel to say that no cycles were permitted in the tunnel. Now given that my riding companion at the time was Josh who had come to grief earlier in the trip in Birmingham this was probabaly not the best idea. It seemed that all of the traffic that had been held up by the horrendous delays from yesterday on the M25 had decided to use the tunnel as its alternative route. It is an understatement to say that it was lively and that by the end of it the colour had drained somewhat from Josh's cheeks. Still no damage done!

We actually found a steward/security chap at The Valley who displayed distictly human attributes and jovially escorted us to the side of the pitch. I quickly identified the seat that I had occupied on my one previous visit to the Valley when Charlton beat Forest 4-2 in the season that Forest won promotion from the Championship to the Premier League. You will know given Forest recent record that was some years past. Anyhow we must have brought them good luck as they later won 3-0.

The 5.1 mile journey to Millwall was all a little depressing. The ground is situated not far from the Surrey Quays adjacent to a waste and recycling plant and the whiff of refuse and rubbish hovers in the air. The New Den is however the only ground that has its own blue double decker bus parked in the car park and that is its distinguishing feature. Despite being two up at Reading the Lions conceded two late goals to draw 2-2.

We moved into another part of SE London (7.8 miles) and the visit to Selhurst Park and Crystal Palace. My last visit there was only a few weeks ago as I was invited to see Forest there by a Palace supporting friend. I almost felt at home as we buzzed past the Kebab shop we frequented when I was last there. An open gate at an unattended stadium allowed us access to the side of the pitch for a record of our visit to be made. Sadly we did not bring Palace any luck as they lost their opening game of the season.
We set off again on our longest leg of the day and the 9.3 miles to Chelsea. This was a very quick stop for photos and answering the call of nature in the Millenium and Copthorne Hotel.

A short jaunt of 2.1 miles took us to the kingdom of Mohammed Al Fayed and Fulham FC. We gave the Michael Jackson statue a swerve. We were asked by a woman on the main gate if we were invited to the players and families BBQ and whilst we were tempted to say that we were cousins of Mohammed we had to admit that we were not part of the guest list. We did speak very briefly to Steve Sidwell who said he was looking forward to the start of the new season.

The Loftus Road Stadium was all closed up so it was hardly worth the effort expended on the 3.2 miles it took to get us there. We recorded our visit and headed off back past the BBC and on our way to Griffin Park the home of Brentford FC. Part of the journey took us along the bike lane on the side of the A40 which was our first encounter with a two way cycle lane. Either I got it wrong or I got it right but the natives of Acton are just plain unfriendly. I thought normal rules of the road applied and you occupied the left hand side. My opponent however had other ideas as he was clearly not moving and when I invited him to do so he asked me what my f................ problem was. I was about to offer a reason for my position but given that his dog looked a bit snarly and I had Rebecca to take care of I decided that discretion was the order of the day.

Part of the deal with Rebecca carrying on riding to Brentford (6.4 miles) was that we would acquire for her a Cadbury Dreams white chocolate bar. A note to the market research guy at Cadbury's - we went into seven separate shops before we could buy a bar of Dreams - you need to take a look at this.

We were met at the gates of Brentford by the Commercial Manager of Brentford FC. As we arrived the home team rose as one not for our arrival but the fact that they had just gone one up at home to Yeovil (they went on to win 2-0). We were taken to the side of the pitch whilst the game was in progress to record our visist to Griffin Park. A big thank you to Oliver White at Brentford FC.

And so we completed the day with a 0.4 stretch to the Premier Inn Kew which is just a lie because it is in Brentford. Ben has joined us again for a family dinner as we are not far from home so I need to finish off.

I had thought that I would put the miles for today in the body of the blog and let you add them up but as I have spoilt you all by giving it to you each day I will not change now.

The mileage for the day is 43.2 miles and a cumulative total of 655.4.

We are now at the point where in the words of the great Kenneth Wolstenhome ' There are people on the pitch, they think it's all over'

Finally allowed to set foot on the grass

As we set out for the day having dried out from the demands of the previous day I was left to ponder what could there be to write about that I hadn't already covered in the previous days.

Full marks to the Premier Inn at South Mimms which was up there with the best that we have stayed at. It was pleasing that Ben could join us for dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary or was it to celebrate Barack Obama's 50th birthday?

The Underhill Stadium at Barnet is one of the remaining football grounds that has a noticeable slope and they were more than happy to take us pitch side but with the usual health warning about not setting foot on the pitch otherwise you would be visited by the Wrath of Everything. They were preparing for a Ghanain festival and a visit from the Ghana national team at which some 3,500 people would attend. The Barnet commercial manager was hoping to sell them all a season ticket I think even the national team members.

From the team that almost lost their league status we moved on to the team that nearly made it into The Champions League places Tottenham Hotspur. No such warm welcome there. The Security had obviously taken a wrong turning out of bed this morning and issued a stern 'Thou shalt not pass'as we tried to breach the perimeter fence. Had we known that we would be met with such resistance we could have tried some diversion tactics which would have allowed us to use stealth to get within reach of the stadium. We had to settle for a photograph which certainly wins the prize for the furthest away from the stadium category.

Arsenal, the biggest nearly club in the world, must have been very busy contemplating what it might nearly win this forthcoming season to extend any sort of invitation to us other than the use of the toilet facilities, this after the manageress at the Fitness First located at the old Arsenal Stadium at Highbury had refused to allow toilet use without showing a membership card for Fitness First. We ticked the Arsenal box and moved on.

Leyton Orient, the club chaired by snooker and darts promoter Barry Hearn, greeted us warmly and took us pitch side again with the warning of the visitation of demons should we set foot on the green and pleasant land. The League One side still has an old style stand with uprights of the sort that makes people complain that they can't see the game very well. That stand was given to Orient many years ago by a local dog track which is the reason behind the club crest not being over the halfway line. The only place it could be located was at the point of the old finish line of the dog track and as a result it has been off centre at Orient since it was erected.

From the O's we moved on to the Daggers (Dagenham and Redbridge FC) but not before we enjoyed a brief lunch stop at the Orange Cafe in London E11. Good paninis with good salads. We meandered our way to our final stop of the day. Dagenham High St is an interesting place for wildlife. It must have the highest population per square mile of fighting dogs in the UK but that was topped as I observed a young lady carrying her pet ferret!

Promoted to the League in the last decade from the Conference the stadium has to qualify for the longest name of a stadium of all that we have visited. The snappy title of 'The London Borough of Redbridge and Dagenham Stadium' or was it 'The London Borough of Dagenham and Redbridge Stadium' who knows as I lost the will to read after the 'of'.

We fully expected to be told that Daggers would be used as the weapon of choice if we strayed on to the pitch but no, a photo on the pitch was more than acceptable. Inevitably that has to be the choice of photo for today as we finally achieved standing on the pitch at our 41st club.

The short trip to the Premier Inn at Beckton saw us complete our trip for the day at 38.7 miles and and running total of 612.2. Tomorrow we visit a massive 8 clubs which is the busiest day of the trip and that takes us into the the final minutes of normal time.

Are your feet wet?

After enjoying an after dinner walk around Furzton Lake last evening in the balmy summer sunshine it was difficult to believe that in less than 12 hours the UK monsoons would visit us.

For the first time on the trip I donned the wet weather gear as we left for the Stadium MK. MK Dons one of the more recent additions to the football league gained their status in controversial style. After the old Wimbledon were taken over and their tenure at Selhurst Park came to an end it was decided that Wimbledon would play its home games in Milton Keynes. This bucked the trend and tradition of football in this country where usually the club is located in the heart of the town or place that relates to the club. This is somewhat opposed to the US model where the club owners decide where the team will play and the team will often be moved to other parts of the States. This move to Milton Keynes was in reality akin to a town or place buying its place in the league without passing through the league pyramid on the way. Ironically the old Wimbledon was reformed as AFC Wimbledon and has worked its way through the League pyramid and has this season gained promotion again to the football league. Stadium MK is a grey and uninspiring stadium although to be fair that may have been a reflection of the day rather than the stadium.

I then had to cover the 35 or so miles from there to Stevenage Borough who are also a very recent addition to the League havin gained promotion to spend last season as their first in the Football League.

My photograph for today is taken in front of the Stevenage Stadium and the look on my face fairly sums up the way that I was feeling after 36.4 miles cycling through torrential rain.

As the water dripped off my arms and legs and I regaled my support team, who interestingly had not ventured from the support vehicle from the moment they had set foot in it, with tales of the numerous floods I cycled through and the number of times I had been totally smeared by lorry after lorry spraying water over me. As I sat in the support vehicle working out my next directions some bright spark piped up 'Are your feet wet?' Were my feet wet, were my feet wet? Every bloody thing was wet.

I decided not to take a break from riding and cracked on with the remaining miles of the day which was an additional 17.5 miles and resulted in a daily total of 58.9 miles and every single one of them in the pouring rain.

If you had said to me at the start of the ride you may only have one wet day I would probabaly have taken it. I can say though it is one of the most unpleasant things I have ever done and I am hoping the weather gods turn back in my favour for the remainder of the ride.

I will be looking at the weather forecast this evening with a good deal of fear and trepidation.

On one of those better late than never moments we had an email from Blackpool today offering us a signed football for auction. We were there approximately 540 miles ago! Needless to say we have thanked them and asked them to send it on. For the eagle eyed of you that will tell you that we have now covered 573.5 miles in total.

Tomorrow my reward is five clubs to visit and only 40 miles. What will we do with ourselves for the rest of the day?

A happy anniversary to my long supporting and long suffering wife Stephanie.

I will check in again tomorrow. Until then..............

At least it wasn't hard to choose today's photograph

We knew at the start of today that it was going to be a day high on mileage but low on club visits. Indeed it is the only day where we have a singleton club visit.

That honour goes to Northampton Town but more of that later.

When you are doing the miles and not many clubs you do begin to scratch your head and think what to include in the blog. However if you let the day unfold potential points of interest come to you or you stumble across things to talk about.

Like hamstrings and backs. Despite my low mileage day yesterday when I woke this morning my left hamstring was so tight you could have played a violin concerto on it and my back had more knots in it that the boy scouts hand book. A very gentle start was called for.

Like Roman Roads. Today we crossed two Roman Roads ( The Fosse Way and Watling Street) Now what I remember from second year junior school (that is Year 4 in new money) is that the romans built roads that were straight and flat not only because that was the quickest way to travel but it stopped the Celts hiding round the corners. Sadly we only crossed said roads as the ones I was on were neither straight nor were they flat.

Like the naughty drivers class. As we arrived at Northampton Town's ground the class for motorists caught speeding was just coming to an end and they all had to file past us as though doing the walk of shame. You expect to see a lot of boy and girl racers but actually there would seem to be more middle aged and elderley racers particularly in Northampton.

Like gender reassignment. We took a break for a sandwich and a drink at the Royal Oak in Blisworth. This is very close to the canals and there are many boat people in and around the area for the canal festival this weekend. We were engaged in a conversation with two very pleasant people one of whom clearly had or was undergoing gender reassignment. It was clear that she had become a she but unfortunately the voice was very deep and a bit of a giveaway. The children asked us some very interesting questions over lunch (like which toilet would be used) and it is fair to say that their experience of life was broadened during the day.

Oh and like Northampton Town FC - I almost forgot to talk about our visit to the Sixfields Stadium.

This is a small modern stadium which holds about 7,500 people. We had no problem getting in and they were happy for us to go wherever we wanted apart from the pitch. Currently languishing in the lowest division of the football league NTFC do hold a quite remarkable record. That is they are the team that had gone from the lowest league to the top league in English Football in the shortest time. Sadly they were not at the top level for long and I suspect there is more chance of many extreme things happening before they will be there again. My only memory of NTFC was when they played Manchester United in the FA Cup and lost 8-2 with the late great George Best scoring six of the eight goals. The fella supposed to be marking Best that day said afterwards that when he shook his hand at the end of the game that was the nearest he got to him all day.

Well done to Chaineys Cycle Shop in Milton Keynes for doing a quick emergency repair on one of my bike pedals after the ride today so that we are all set to go again in the morning.

The miles could be long and hard tomorrow particularly if the weather forecast is to be believed as they will be very wet miles. Surely wet miles are like away goals in Europe and count double!

So we were back up and over the 50 mile mark today with 55.9 miles and a cumulative total of 514.6

A demain

Almost a day off

By comparison to other days the workload for today was much reduced.

It started with a quick trip to the Hawthorns and the home of West Bromwich Albion. West Brom have played here since 1900 and the ground is the highest of all 92 clubs in the Football League. All downhill from here!

A quick hop on and hop off and we were soon at Villa Park the home of Aston Vills FC. The last time I was here Ray Graydon was playing right wing for the Villa. Of all the clubs that we are visting Aston Villa hold the record for being in the top flight of English football having spent 100 seasons of its history in the top division.

Only one club can top that and for those that are remotely interested the answer is at the bottom of the blog with today's mileage.

A quick in and out at St Andrews and Birmingham City FC which was undoubtedly the least impressive of the grounds visited today resulted in the journey to Coventry City starting very early. It also coincided with a failed attempt to see if we could get Josh's bike repaired but alas not to be.

The Ricoh Arena the home of Coventry City FC since it departed Highfield Road. Highfield Road was the scene of many important football events including the venue at which NFFC clinched the old first division title. It was also famous for a goal that became a signature for match of the day when Willie Carr held the ball between his heels and flicked it up for Ernie Hunt to volley into the far corner.

Due to the proximity of the grounds we found ourselves finished at around 1.00pm so we found a quick pub lunch and time for a game of pitch and putt at Allesley Park Coventry. Although we do not visit the Hornets until the last day of the ride some other variety of stinging insect visited my arm whilst I was playing golf so you will appreciate that I am dealing with a different type of discomfort this evening.

We also had a brush with Her Majestys Constabulary as a screw had come loose on the front numberplate of the car. Stephanie asked if they had a spare one in their car. They said that they didn't but would drop some off at the pitch and putt hut for us for when we had finished as they had some screws back at the station which reduced number plate theft. Whilst we were appreciative of their efforts you have to wonder?

So a shorter blog for a shorter day. Heaven knows what I can come up with tomorrow as our one stop in the whole day is Northampton FC in a day of approximately 52 miles!

Josh's mood has lifted somewhat since we arrived at the hotel as the attached restaurant is TGI Fridays!

The answer to the football question is Everton. Today's mileage is 37.8 miles with a total of 458.7. As I said almost a day off.

A tangle of metal - and not just the stadia

Before anyone gets worried everyone is safe and sound but the day has been eventful - more of that later.

We had a short ride to our first stop of the day which was Burton Albion and the Pirelli Stadium. As with many of the smaller clubs they were really welcoming and getting pitch side was no problem. The players were in for training and were a little bemused by four people wandering around in bright yellow T Shirts.

The exit from Burton takes you past the Marstons Brewery and whilst 'Pedigree' is one of the finest drinks ever created the smell of mashed hops wafting across the road at 10.00am does not react well with the scrambled eggs eaten a little earlier.

The Burton to Walsall stretch was 29.5 miles which was enjoyable once the legs decided it was time to join in. The A38 was dull but the surface was good and I was able to eat up the miles very quickly. Once off the A38 I came across a place called Walton-under-Trent. Now for all you geographers out there you will know that the Trent is a river. So how do all those people live under the river?

The Banks Stadium or the Bescot Stadium whichever you choose is tucked away on a retail park as many of the more modern stadia are. It was no problem getting pitch side for photos. It coincided with the groundsman going past us marking the white lines. The conversation was much along the lines as any chat you have with a groundsman. 'Are you at home on Saturday?' 'Yes and on Tuesday and they're even training on the pitch tomorrow!' There was no doubt that the thought of all that going on after he had lovingly created the pitch was almost too much for him.

To be honest I could have been talking to John Woodbridge the groundsman up at Chorleywood.

We departed for the nine mile hop to Molineux and the home of Wolverhampton Wanderers. My only previous visit to this stadium was in 1975 when my old football manager, Dave Crowther, who was a massive Liverpool supporter took me and one or two other lads to the game which Liverpool needed to win to win the old first division. They did so 3-1 with Kevin Keegan scoring one of the goals.

We were shown around part of the stadium but could not get out on to the pitch due to elf'n safety as they are in the process of costructing a new stand at the ground. Poor excuse given our cycle helmets could have easily doubled for hard hats. A smashing elderly gentleman called Malcolm showed us around. He had been a Wolves suppoter since he was a boy and there was not much he did not know about the club.

We were shown the tunnel, the place where Mick McCarthy does his press after games and the home dressing room. The referees room is called the Jack Taylor Officials room. Before Howard Webb he was the only other Englishman to referee the World Cup Final and awarded a penalty kick in the first minute of the final between Holland and West Germany which the Germans won 2-1.

Sadly no referee was needed in the confrontation that took place on the A41 from Wolverhampton to West Bromwich. The outcome was all too clearcut. Josh was riding with me at the time but unfortunately was forced off the road by a car. He baled out the side door and off the road but sadly the white truck following him ran over the front of his bike snapping the front forks rendering it unrideable. He has one or two bumps on his elbow and knees but the damage is only superficial. Thank goodness it was that way round. I am sure he will be on the road again tomorrow sharing Rebeccas bike so that he can carry on.

As metal figured in the title of the blog today we thought we would use the tunnel photo at Molineux where there is much metal on view.

The distances for today are 51.3 miles with a total of 420.9.

Au revoir