St Edmunds Wheel 2008

Today is the annual St Edmunds Wheel charity Ride, Run and Walk, established in 1998. There is a choice of 15, 25, 50 or 100 mile cycle rides, 3 or 6 miles walk and relay race. I did the 25 mile ride 2 years ago, and enjoyed it a lot. I didn't get round to entering it this year, but I thought the kids would like to do the 3 mile walk. But I only got one taker - Little W, so we had a boy's morning out.

When I saw all the cyclists, I was wishing I'd just gone in for the 25 mile ride on the day. The T-shirts this year are a subdued grey colour (unlike the bright yellow ones in 2006).

We went to the Abbey gate to watch the cyclists start. Here are the 50 and 100-milers setting out shortly after 9 a.m.

We signed up for the walk and waited for the 10 o'clock start, only to find most of the walkers had set out as soon as they had registered, so there was only a select handful of us for the official start. We got a bottle of water, a banana and a Mars bar to keep us going, a map with detailed directions and an official participant's number to wear. Here is Little W showing off his.

It was mostly familiar territory to us, but I hadn't been along Cotton Lane before and it's a while since I'd been past College Square. The roses looked lovely.

We had a good conversation as we went. Little W reckoned he could manage the 100-mile cycle ride. What, on that gender-bender bicycle of his? 2 miles is about enough for him.

We were back in the Abbey Gardens in less than an hour and claimed our medals for completing the walk. Little W really liked that. "I've never won a medal before", he said.

Predictably, "You didn't tell me there would be medals", complained Little Miss when we got home and he displayed it with pride!