*Chapter 16*
Farewell Yorkshire

 
I rolled to a halt and was engulfed by Angela, "You did it!”
"Water,” I gasped.

Sonja gave me a bottle and I took a swig before realising it was actually recovering drink.

"And it looks like its going to be a German one two,” the MC excitedly told the small crowd of onlookers.

We turned to look up the road, the gallop wasn’t huge and from the front almost impossible to identify anyone. An arm thrust skywards, an arm attached to Manda.

It turns out Mand wasn’t part of the sprint but rather she’d stayed away after Rosedale, her last minute sprinting keeping her a few lengths clear of the chasers. The rest of our lot came in a few minutes later along with Wogan who’d clearly blown big style on the Chimney. BC got a consolation prize mind, Darren won the gallop.

 
"I think you’ll all agree we’ve been treated to an excellent weekend’s racing, so a big thank you to our organisers, Ryedale Council and to all the volunteers who’ve made it possible.”

There was a polite round of applause.

"So, onto our race results for today, in third place, riding for British Cycling, Darren Fox!”

Daz climbed onto step three and accepted his prize, I gave him a bit of a cheer, he’s alright is Daz.

"In second place after a very gutsy ride on the Rosedale climb, riding for Team Apollinaris, Amanda de Vreen!”

I smoothed my Apollinaris shirt out and checked my braids as the crowd showed their appreciation. Well I had to get tidied up a bit after my ducking.

"And our winner today after an eventful day on, and off the saddle, for Team Apollinaris, Gabrielle Bond!”

I gave my usual wave and cheesy grin, exchanging greetings with the lower steps before climbing onto the top step. Oh yeah, this is what it’s all about!

 
The overall had some surprises, Josh taking the climber’s prize by a single point from Wogan after Saturday’s solo effort, I came joint third with Geth and Mand. It sounds like an Apollinaris whitewash but as you know we had to work damn hard for the result.

"And so we come to our overall podium, in third place at two minutes forty eight, for British Cycling, Jamie Wilson!”

It was actually quite close for the top ten, only a dozen seconds splitting second to tenth.

"Second overall just one second faster, for Team Apollinaris, Joshua Waugh!”

I did say it was close.

"And our overall winner, having won two out of three stages, for Team Apollinaris, Gabrielle Bond!”

I couldn’t shift the grin on my face as I received the winners jersey and my imposing trophy – gonna have to get a bigger trophy cabinet!

 
Of course there’s a penalty to pay for success, the press and sponsors all want their pound of flesh. So once the presentations were over there was another twenty minutes of posing and even a short interview with a guy from the Comic . I did manage to slip away eventually to get a shower, my shorts are getting a bit whiffy!

"You got everything, Amanda?” Dad asked.
"Think so.”
"Ready Mand?” Caro enquired joining our little farewell gathering.
"Sure, Caroline,” she allowed, "So I'll see you guys next week, don’t eat all the schnitzel, Gab!”
"Ha, as if!”

She gave me a hug and then she was gone, following Caro across the car park.

 
"Right then, folks, if we’re all ready?” Dad enquired.
"Let’s roll!” I enthused bouncing into my seat.

Dad put the Hymer in gear and our journey home to Germany began. We took a direct if not necessarily fast route south through the Ryedale lanes culminating in following the long straight drive past Castle Howard – not that you could really see anything. We joined the A64 towards York and started to make better time being a couple of hours ahead of the Sunday coast traffic.

"Anyone fancy a look at York?” Dad suggested as we approached the bypass.
"Could fancy a coffee,” Angela suggested.
"We can do that here, I was going to stop on the way down to Hull anyhow,” Dad told us.

 
And so we headed into Ebvracvm for a short stop, Dad seemed to know where he was headed – we have after all been here a time or two in the past. We got parked just outside the Walls and Dad led the way to Bootham Bar and through Petergate to the Minster where we headed into the familiar stop for the family Bond of Bennet’s Cafe.

"We gonna have time for a quick look around, Dave?” Sonja queried as we waited for our coffee and cake.
He checked his watch, "We can probably manage half an hour or so, we’ve got about an hour to the port, don’t really want to be there last minute.”
"Cool!” Ron enthused beside me.
"It’s not that exciting,” I told her.
"Not for you maybe, but I've never been before.”

Well she’s got me there I guess, I was even here just before Chrimbo.

 
After coffee our party split into two, Dad acting as guide to the adults, me the er, younger element. Dad headed for the Minster, I headed for the still open shops.

"The shops are open every Sunday?” Gret queried as we peered into a boutique’s window.
"Better believe it,” I allowed.
"Weird,” Tali observed.

I shrugged, having lived in Germany for over two years now I'm used to not having any shops bar the bakery open on the seventh day, I can’t say as I really miss it after all I'm racing most weeks anyhow and the shops are usually open late in the week anyhow.

Of course there’s a lot of stuff in York, a new visitor to the place could easily sink a couple of days, a full day will just about do the main stuff. It’s not the prettiest of places and it’s all but flat but history it can do in buckets, Romans, Vikings, Medieval besides more modern attractions like the National Railway Museum. So where can you get in half an hour? Certainly not in anywhere like the Jorvik centre, I made an executive decision and almost dragged them past the shops.

It was a fairly express tour of central York, a quick look at the Shambles, a loop round through the market place, through a couple of snickelways and back to the Minster where we met the adults before returning to our transport. Phone cameras were pressed into action at various random spots and in the end even I wanted to look in a couple of shops. Indeed, by the time we found the rest of our party even Josh was carrying some sort of souvenir in a bag.

We found a passing Grockle to take a couple of photos of our group in front of the Minster and then it was back to the camper. Dad took the long way around the city, encircling the City Wall on the ring road so our visitors got to see most of the interesting sites even if it wasn’t too close up.

It’s only about forty miles from York back to the ferry, the road is fairly quick and straight so it had only just turned six when we joined the queue of coaches and campers waiting to load onto the Pride of Rotterdam. My last two trips to the UK have been long weekends, both as it turns out, to Yorkshire, I'll have to get back to Warsop sometime.

 
"I thought we’d have the same cabin,” Tali mused once we reached our deck ten accommodation.
"It’s a different boat,” I pointed out as I attended to getting some slap on.
"We gonna do the bar again?”
"Let me think now – erm, yes.”
"Alright, smarty pants.”
"You can’t see them can you? I'm not tucked in?” I dropped a hand to check my dress wasn’t caught in my knickers.
"Geez, Gab, how much are you putting on?”
"Enough, look done,” I announced slamming the brush back into the massy tube.
“’Bout time.”

 
We have of course got the full package again, multi course buffet dinner and breakfast, being fairly early loading we managed to get to the restaurant not too long after it started serving and so scored a couple of window tables overlooking the Humber and the northern tip of Lincolnshire.

"Can we have a couple of bottles of Pinot,” Dad requested when the drinks steward came round, “on each table.”

Oh yeah, free booze!

Once the steward had departed Dad addressed our table, “Don’t get too used to it, but you’ve all done the team proud this weekend, we’ve come away with the major silverware and from what I've seen and been told everyone over here has been impressed not just by your riding but by your professionalism on and off the bikes.”
"Except Woggo,” I suggested.
"Who?” Dad asked.
"Tha new BC guy, man,” Josh volunteered.
"Wogan,” I filled in.
"Well apart from him, all the race people have been impressed. So wine with dinner, don’t spoil things in the bar later, eh?”

There was an exchange of guilty looks.

"Er no, Dad.”

 
I decided to go with the curry this time, to be honest I cook a better roast than this lot anyhow, then after a reasonably large mixed portion of chicken Madras and prawn Korma with all the accessories I took my time working through desserts, cheese plate and finally coffee. To be fair, all our party were taking their time this evening, it was close to sailing time when we left the restaurant.

"I'm going up top,” I mentioned.
"What for?” Ron asked.
"To say goodbye to England,” I offered, "There’s a bar too.”
"Now yer talking, hen!” Josh enthused.

We headed to the lift which zoomed us up to the ‘Sun Lounge’, we weren’t the only ones making the journey for pretty much the same reason.

 
PRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPP!

The ships horn nearly deafened us as we reached the open deck, we’re on our way. The others found the bar while I found a space at the railing pulling my cardi closer as the wind a dozen storeys above the river whipped about me. It’s not the most spectacular departure from the UK but I was glued to the rail watching Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and indeed the land of my birth slipping away behind us.

"Here you go, Gab,” Ron pushed a bottle of Belgian beer into my paw, "Sorry to be leaving?”

Am I?

"I know it’s a bit weird but not really,” I admitted.
"Not even a little bit?”
“Maybe a smidge but apart from my Gran there’s nothing here for me, Germany – well Dernau’s home now, it’s where my friends are, where I went to school, where I work.”
"Where your boyfriend is?” Ron added.
“Okay I'll admit it, where my boyfriend is. It’s nice to visit England from time to time but I can’t ever imagine living there again.”
"Wow, you have caught it bad,” Ron stated before taking a pull on her own bottled beverage.
"What about you? Ever fancy moving somewhere else?”
"Why would I?”
"I dunno,” I admitted with a shrug, “University?”
"There’s a university in Düssel, why would I go anywhere else? I travel, will travel all over with the team after all.”

 
The Humber opened out and we slipped past Spurn point as we headed out into the North Sea.

 
Maddy Bell © 09.05.17