One aspect to my character is dictated by my situation: this is persistence. I often find, like many disabled folk, that daily tasks take longer to do.
Almost always, disabled people have to do certain things at a slower pace and often with a greater degree of application and concentration.
This cycle ride may seem like a huge task. But essentially it is the culmination of a patience and persistence born of nearly 11 years of having to do things a lot more slowly than most people. I’ve become a person that needs to soldier on and on to do many things. Breaking a 714 mile journey by trike into 26 different stages comes naturally.
I didn’t need any persistence on the 6th day of our ride. It was a rest day in Edinburgh and the Lord Provost of that city came to meet me at our hotel.
In order to maximize a public profile for the campaign, he organised a police escort to take us from the city centre, along Princes Street and then onto our route to Longniddry through the suburb Portobello (see video at http://bit.ly/cw7UKm).
So, the next morning, after organising the escort with the police, we proceeded along Princes Street.
After the hills of Edinburgh, the route to Longniddry was flat. Only a few hours after saying goodbye to the Scottish capital, we arrived at our destination late afternoon.
Our progress was relatively swift. It got swifter still the following day, from Longniddry to Dunbar – the most benign stage on this journey so far. Our route followed the A1 along the coast, crossing underneath this mighty road towards the end of our journey.
