Well, that was quite a day.
Today I rode 83.03 miles.
I'm not entirely sure my legs have forgiven me yet.
Actually, that's not entirely a joke.
One of my knees has been giving me trouble again. It first started bothering me while I was training for LEJOG, and after today's ride, it's certainly making its presence known.
It's something we'll need to keep an eye on, but fortunately we've started building proper rest days into the schedule for both me and the crew. It's a welcome change from having our days off dictated by whichever mechanical disaster happened to be occupying our attention that week.
And speaking of changes, things have been going rather well lately.
When I last wrote, I'd just arrived in Worthing and was beginning to enjoy the journey again.
From there, I continued to Horsham, where I busked before riding on to Kingston upon Thames.
I've played in both Worthing and Horsham before, and they're two towns I've always enjoyed visiting. The welcome I received this time was no different.
In fact, I've noticed a real change in the kindness I've encountered as I've made my way north. People seem genuinely interested in what I'm doing, and after some of the experiences earlier in the journey, it's been lovely to have so many positive encounters.
Visit Horsham even shared videos of me playing on their High Street on their Facebook page.
I really appreciated that.
I'm attempting something that's never been done before, and although Yorkie works behind the scenes to help keep everything moving, getting the PianoMission in front of people is something we can't accomplish on our own.
Every person who shares a video, tells a friend or takes a moment to learn why I'm doing this helps us reach someone new.
And sometimes those small gestures can make a much bigger difference than people realise.
Yorkie has also been sending press packs to newspapers, radio stations and other media outlets along the route, hoping to introduce the journey to people who might not otherwise hear about it.
One of those introductions led to an interview with Torq Hopper at the Bournemouth Echo, who recently published an article about the journey.
You can read it here: Former Dorset resident pedals piano length of UK.
I'd like to thank Torq for taking the time to speak with me, for his interest in what I'm doing and for giving the story the attention he did.
Local journalists play an important role in telling stories that might otherwise go unheard, and I'm grateful to Torq for helping more people discover the PianoMission.
So thank you to everyone in Worthing and Horsham. You made me feel very welcome, and I hope I'll have the opportunity to play for you again.
From Kingston, it was time for the Vok to go in for its service.
I really do have to say something about Fully Charged and Vok, because the support we've received from both companies throughout this journey has been exceptional.
Customer service sometimes feels like a lost art. It's easy to promise excellent service when everything is working perfectly. It's quite another thing to stand behind your product when a customer is doing something rather unconventional with it.
And I think it's fair to say that cycling an upright piano across Britain qualifies as unconventional.
We've certainly presented them with some interesting challenges, but they've continued to work with us, help us find solutions and make sure we have the support we need.
More importantly, they've treated us like people, not just another customer with a problem to solve.
I wish more businesses understood how much that matters.
The people at Fully Charged and Vok have demonstrated the kind of customer service I think every company should aspire to, and I'm enormously grateful to them.
We simply couldn't do this without their support.
While we were back in London, I also returned to somewhere that will always mean an awful lot to me.
St Pancras.
I sat down at the station's pianos and played.
Not busking. Just playing.
I've been back to St Pancras many times over the years, and I don't think it will ever stop being emotional for me.
There are so many memories tied to that place. Some wonderful ones, and some I'd rather not have had to live through.
But it's where I first found the piano, and in many ways where I began finding myself.
I sometimes wonder what the person I was back then would think if he could see me now.
I'm not sure he'd believe it.
A decade ago, I couldn't have imagined making a living doing something I loved, let alone cycling an upright piano from one end of Britain to the other.
St Pancras didn't magically fix everything that was wrong in my life. There was still an awful lot I had to work through, and there are things I'm still working through today.
But it gave me somewhere to begin.
And every time I sit down at a piano there, I'm reminded of just how far I've come.
After London, I continued north, although the weather had other ideas about how quickly we were going to get anywhere.
With storms passing through Britain, we decided that taking the Vok out in those conditions wasn't particularly sensible.
So we waited for the weather to improve.
And then today, I rode.
83.03 miles.
The first leg was 22.39 miles, followed by another 60.64 miles.
Before today, my longest single ride on this journey had been approximately 33 miles, from Sidmouth to Taunton.
Today I nearly doubled that record.
And the second leg alone took more than four hours of actual riding.
I'm rather pleased with myself.
When Yorkie added today's rides to the records, we'd reached 761.63 miles on the actual LEJOG route, with 33,017 feet of climbing.
That's 1.14 times the height of Everest.
Including all the additional riding since Land's End, I've now covered approximately 971 miles and climbed 41,679 feet.
Nearly a thousand miles.
I remember when 30 miles felt like an ambitious day. Today I rode 83.
I think that's worth taking a moment to appreciate.
We're moving regularly now. We've started planning proper days off for both me and the crew, rather than simply stopping because something has broken or gone wrong. There's a rhythm developing that we haven't really had since leaving Land's End.
And having that bit of structure has made an enormous difference to how I feel.
I'm enjoying the riding. I'm enjoying playing again. I'm looking forward to the next part of the journey rather than worrying about what might go wrong before we get there.
That doesn't mean there won't be more problems.
There almost certainly will be.
I'm cycling an upright piano across Britain as winter approaches. It would be rather optimistic to think everything is suddenly going to go according to plan.
But for the first time in quite a while, I feel as though we're finding our feet.
There are some planned days off ahead, and plenty more miles to cover.
For now, I'm going to enjoy having made it this far.
Because after everything that's happened, it's a rather wonderful feeling to look at the map and see just how much further north we've managed to get.
The tide is finally turning.
And I think I'm ready to see where it takes us next.
— James
