Day 5

Having made it to Ripon last night, Sam met up with a mate and was able to soak his tired, aching feet in a luxurious bath (not to sure his friend thinks it was such a good idea anymore), and then get a good nights sleep in a proper bed.

With access to a computer Sam was also able to catch up with all the messages of support and well wishes that have been sent to him, keep them coming as they really do spur him on no end.

So following a good night’s sleep, Sam was up and ready for the off bright and early this morning. After 4 days of beautiful weather and with his tan coming on nicely, Sam stepped out in his singlet only to find that the sky was going to leak, and that he was going to spend the whole day fighting against the weather.

Little did he know that whilst struggling through the torrential rain for mile after mile with his reserves beginning to wane, he would find himself fighting more than just the weather! As Sam battled against the biting wind and rain, a “local” came round the corner too fast in his little white van, hit a huge puddle and covered our Sam in water, taking umbridge to this, Sam gave the international hand signal for “I think you may have been travelling slightly too fast there old chap, who do you think you are, Lewis Hamilton?”, and continued along his merry way still slightly upset and dripping (from the puddle). Behind him however, the disgruntled van driver brought his sporty little number to sudden halt. Sam heard the drivers door begin to open and before the driver had even had the chance to swing his legs out, Sam bellowed “don’t even think about it!”, at which point the driver decided that perhaps he didn’t want to pick a fight with very wet, front row forward, who was clearly tired and emotional, and got back in his van and drove away.

Undeterred, Sam strode on and made it Tadcaster, spending the night at his friends again he is at least able to dry his socks out ready for tomorrow.