First day of the run itself

There's a theme to this post: wet and windy, and it's largely all you need to know.

The day started wet, then windy, then wet and windy; then, as changeable weather does, it became windy and wet and windy, with some more wet. Then some of us got up and headed for Terry's tent for cups of coffee and chats before getting ready to go.

Breakfast was to be at 0800 at Morrisons, so we all assembled there to find that the store opened at 0830. We stood outside in the wet and wind until they let us in.

After breakfast we headed off to Little Bridge House, all resplendent in our new Polo shirts with designs done by some of the children. After a meet and greet, we posed outside for a photo, in the windy wetness, and left accompanied by Lantern FM until we were back en route to Lands End.

The drive went quite well, considering the wet windiness; a couple of cars either developed or extended their winscreen leaks, Team Cheese had a minor stop but was sorted soon after and when we eventually got to Lands End there were reports of issues with the lead car's steering.

However, this turned out to be a false alarm of sorts, so after getting our End To End verification forms sorted, buying the odd souvenir, having pictures of cars taken by the signpost, having a spot of lunch, taking photos and videos, getting blasted by the sea air, wind and wetness, we set off again.

No issues on the way back, although we did have some delays due to a crashed car that had previously been dealt with by the emergency services. But we were all thinking what the state of the campsite would be once we got back.

And when we did get back, with the wetness mostly gone but the windiness continuing with a vengeance, we found a scene of near destruction.

All through the day, one of our camping neighbours had been trying his best to keep our camp going. He'd tried in vain to keep our tents up in the wind and minimise the damage. Unfortunately, John and Amanda's tent ended up missing, several others had broken or bent poles and there was a distinct air of wetness about the place. Luckily for me, I got away without damage to the tent or a soaking for my clothes.

It still meant that apart from a few diehards (Alison and Terry), everyone broke camp and we've ended up in a couple of the chalets which were available. Let's see how we function in the morning when we've spent a night in the close company of 7 others...