Day one: The Escape

"I've got us a car for our trip. Might be a bit of a crush with our kit in, but it'll do. Going to get John from his safehouse early... stay away from the motorways and the traffic cops..."

So, by 7am I'd picked up David, the kit all packed in Dennis the night before. He decided to drive the first section of the route we'd planned, as he knows the roads so it would give him a chance to get used to the car.

"No way I want to be caught driving this car, not today..."

It was going to be all the B's on the route we chose: Boston, Burton-on-Trent, Birmingham, Bristol, Bridgwater, Barnstaple, Bideford and Buck's Cross. Boston was no issue, and largely over to Burton was fine as well. Usual things with other traffic, but Dennis was running well and apart from general wetness the weather was, er, a bit dodgy...

"Damn roadblocks!"

We made it through Burton and on to Birmingham on the A38. Bit nervous round here, but Spaghetti Junction went smoothly. Not so much for the lane closures getting to Longbridge though which slowed us up quite a bit though once we were out the other side things eased off, and we set the shatnav for Tewkesbury.

"Got to stop for something that isn't porridge..."

On the way we stopped at the Bus Stop Cafe, the same converted coach that me and Tony had previously visited on previous LEJOGs. Sausage sandwiches consumed, we were back on our way, with slightly worrying references to Brokeback Mountain and mankinis (shudder...)

"Sure they know where we are before we do..."

The DennisTracker was using a lot of power even though charging constantly. Battery was a bit warm too but it was working ok. More traffic and plenty of 50 limits meant we were getting behind by the time we got to Bristol, where we were diverted by an incident (and David was distracted by an incidence of Bristols...)

"We'll be safe in the country, they'll never find us there..."

Through Bridgwater and carrying on down the A38 still, we heard that Carol and Michelle had left the motorway and were onto the road to Barnstaple after refreshments; the Students had already made it with Barry's LEJOG bear and set themselves up for a night of camping with us.

Soon we made it to the campsite as well, about 11 hours after setting off.

"We're just a pair of encyclopedia salesmen going to a conference, don't mind us"

We met up with everyone and completed David's introductions then soon had our tents pitched and ready, airbeds filled from our 2 pumps. A quick visit to Asda for supplies (beer) and back to the campsite and we were ready for food. Of course, where could we go but to the good old Sunshine Cafe in Westward Ho!

Following a wonderful "been out All Day Breakfast" and a slightly dodgy " mostly steak before it was nuked pie" we headed back to the campsite for more getting to know each other, tone and boundary setting, and of course beer, as the drizzle drizzled, the wind winded and the cold got a bit colder. Time for bed.