A Bridge Too Far: Col Simon Vandeleur’s Blog, Day Two

Colonel Simon Vandeleur, Edinburgh Castle Garrison Commander, created a blog during the ‘A Bridge Too Far’ bike ride from London to Belgium. He rode with Baxterbear on his handlebars all the way there, and Baxterbear was TREEKLED to make a difference with him. To read a full round-up of events, click here. Here is his blog post from the second day: Message 2 from Baxterbear and Simon sitting on Eurostar passing through an overcast northern France. We are chatting to Phil from Newbury and another Simon from Derbyshire. And making lots of new friends. Had an excellent dinner with Number 7 Company Coldstream Guards who are guarding Buckingham Palace at the moment. Some have just returned from an operational tour of Afghanistan and sadly several fine officers and soldiers were killed and wounded. Baxterbear listened to some of the stories and then went to bed early, ready for a long day today. We breakfasted in St James Palace officers’ mess and then crossed London on our bike to St Pancras. We were a little navigationally embarrassed north of Baker Street but made it to St Pancras by about 1100 a.m. Handed in the bike and registered with the H4H admin team on the first floor and chatted with Bryn and Emma Parry, the co-founders of H4H and started to make other friends, for some this is their 4th bike ride. We have wounded veterans with us on the ride including 15 wounded US veterans from Texas. They are really impressive people, coping with some dreadful wounds. Not yet found anyone else from Scotland on the trip but it is early days. Baxterbear is really enjoying the trip so far, although this is the easy part. I have brought a huge umbrella, strapped to the cross-bar of my bike, as the weather forecast for Tuesday in Belgium is quite grim and like all semi military operations, I expect that there will be much hanging about in the rain. I am re-reading my Waterloo history as I am expected to speak for my dinner tomorrow to my fellow cyclists. We are now in Lille. The weather seems to be deteriorating. A bientot mes amis, Simon and Baxterbear For the first day of Col Simon Vandeleur’s blog, click here. For the fourth day of Col Simon Vandeleur’s blog, click here. For the fifth day of Col Simon Vandeleur’s blog, click here. For the sixth day of Col Simon Vandeleur’s blog, click here.