UK360 Day 10 : Marathon day for Martha

Steve Moore: Long distance Clara would have been very proud of us. Today was all about smashing out a big day on the road and seeing how both crew and the fire engine coped. There was no need to worry…Martha absolutely loved it. We drove to Cardiff from Liverpool taking in Snowdonia AND the Brecon Beacons. Wow,  wow, a little bit more wow and then some more. 400 miles of some of the most breathtaking roads you can imagine. It’s sad to think most Brits choose to go abroad when we’ve got all of this on our door step. If I was Prime Minister I’d enforce a law that said in order to qualify for a British passport people would to have to prove they’d; see snowdon, walked in the lake district, driven the west coast of Scotland and visited the Jurassic coast in Dorset.

Now – we all know Martha doesn’t really like diving in town, frankly it is a painful affair and boy does she whine – the open road on the other hand, well she loves it. The windier the better! Through Snowdonia, every bump and turn was lapped up in our 1994 Mercedes. It was however, another reminder of how much the fire engine hurts the crew…every bump, corner and drain can really be felt. After 11 hours every single part of your body knows about it. By back is completely ravaged and I’m in agony. God only know how by body is going to cope over 9 months. Ouch.

It was a truly inspirational day. As this was our ‘long day of driving test’ we didn’t have any visits to the wonderful charities planned. It really was a true test of endurance for Martha on the amazing roads of Wales. Luckily for us our Martha passed with flying colours, my back / bum / left arm / knee / head / left ear however failed miserably. I’m close to being a broken man! The thrill of a day like today, the big chat in the cab and the crazy good views all made it very worthwhile though and brought home how truly excited I am for the expedition to start on July 18^th…just over 50 days time!

We said our goodbyes to Louise and Michelle in Cardiff and by all counts they had a great time. I think Uncle Tony and John will miss their new best mates. At Cardiff Central station we chucked the Mahoney sisters off and replaced them with big chat Kate Bartishel (not Bartoshel as I’ve apparently called her for the last 5 years). I have promised Amy I will be nice to her for at least day. God give me strength – it’s going to be tough and in order to give me a fighting chance of success I’ve had to ask Kate not to give me too ammunition. Tough day ahead. Dance monkey dance.

Steve

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