The second day

After the euphoria of Day One, this was a very difficult day. The Team was in the saddle for 12 hours, and were dogged by technical breakdowns. Colin’s chain snapped, which meant a visit to a bike shop in Bangor. However, the afternoon was sunny, and eventually everyone assembled across the Menai Bridge in Anglesey.
Al and Martin went to Holyhead, and spent the rest of the day desperately trying to re-establish communications with the rest of the Team. They were engaged in following a long, twisting route that seemed to take them all over Anglesey. The mileage for the day was 90 miles, making a total since leaving Manchester of 170. Rob and Col separated from the rest of the Team to try to make camp before nightfall, with the rest of the Team following on behind, up hill and down dale. Meanwhile, Al and Martin were enacting a cartoon version of ‘How to Erect A Tent’. After much struggle and a long time, they had the biggest tent up – only to find that it was inside out, and they had to start again. Col and Jonathan arrived just as it was getting dark, and Martin went out in the van to meet the peloton. It transpired that Asif had fallen off his bike and hit his knee, but fortunately was not seriously damaged.
It was 8:30pm before they all arrived, exhausted, but glad to get into the camp site showers and share a giant pizza. There were only three tents erected, and there was much competition to get into the biggest one, but nobody was left outside – and nobody slept! Martin and Al didn’t fare much better in a grubby room with tins of paint in the wardrobe, no water glasses in the bathroom, and miniscule pillows.
Some more unexpected donations have been received: £1.00 from the newsagent in Llandudno, and £5 from the bar tender at the camp in Holyhead.
However, the whole Team is now relaxing on the ferry having had breakfast, enjoying the sunny morning, and looking forward to what awaits them in the Wicklow Mountains. There was a nasty moment at Customs in Holyhead, where the van was pulled over, and Martin was asked to open the back door... [and at this point, the mobile phone signal was lost over the Irish Sea, and until Martin is able to re-establish contact with his surrogate blogger, we can only wait in suspense to know whose luggage was impounded or whatever transpired]