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4260 miles.  We did it !!  

55 postboxes at  77.45  miles per postbox

Thanks to Lubs for the company, good humour, lack of arguments and endless patience.

And congratulations to our amazing athletes !!  I'm glad we were able to honour them in our own small way.

55 - High Street, Bedworth - Nick Skelton

Our last postbox on a rainy Sunday morning.  No fanfare and no cheering crowds, just a smile and the knowledge of a job well done !

 

54 - Main Street, Hebden - Andy Triggs-Hodge

The Men's Four of Andy Triggs-Hodge, Alex Gregory, Pete Reed and Tom James led from start to finish to claim Great Britain's 9th Gold of London 2012.  This was our fourth successive victory in the event.

This was a lovely little village tucked away in the hills, far from anywhere.  We had a lovely chat with the shop owner and a local woman who knew Andy's parents.  This was our last stop of a very long night and day and it took a while to get back to the motorway and, eventually, home.

53 - Albert Road, Colne - Steve Burke

Steve Burke, Peter Kennaugh, Ed Clancy and Geraint Thomas beat Australia in the final of the Team Pursuit with a new World record of 3:51.659.  This was our 7th Gold of London 2012.

You can see the car behind us, parked on a precipitous road that was heavily cobbled.  Nice and easy to find but I don't want to think about what would have happened if I'd lost control crossing that street !

52 - Carrington Centre, Ecclestone - Bradley Wiggins

An issue with the Satnav had us panicking but Lubs calmly suggested driving around for a bit.  Luckily I'd seen this place on Google Street View so knew what we were looking for... and it was just around the corner.  We approached the town down a long country road and were convinced we'd gone the wrong way.  I thought I must have written the postcode down incorrectly but it all worked out in the end.

51 - Market Street, Chorley - Bradley Wiggins

Bradley Wiggins became the first man to win the Tour de France and Olympic Gold in the same year with an imperious victory in the Individual Time Trial.  This was Great Britain's 2nd Gold of London 2012.

A nice little town with a prominently placed postbox.

50 - Main Road, Onchan, Isle of Man - Peter Kennaugh

Peter Kennaugh, Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas and Steve Burke beat Australia in the final of the Team Pursuit with a new World record of 3:51.659.  This was our 7th Gold of London 2012.

We left home at 10.30pm and caught the 02.15am ferry to Douglas.  We found a helpful taxi driver who took our pictures, he knew where the postbox was and more importantly, knew the location of a little cafe where we had our breakfast.  Then it was back on the 8.30am ferry to pick up some more postboxes on our way home.

XLIX

We've now travelled 3708 miles to visit 49 postboxes... an average of 75 miles per box !!

49 - Barkers Pool, Sheffield - Jessica Ennis

Jessica Ennis lived up to her billing as Britain's golden girl with a commanding victory in the Heptathlon.  This was Great Britain's 11th Gold of London 2012.

We got the Sheffield to find road closures, confusing signage and unhelpful marshals.  We still don't know what was going on but there were crowds and fairground rides and lots of market stalls - like a Christmas market in October.  We had to walk a bit but we were heading for the Town Hall and couldn't really miss it !



48 - New Road Side, Horsforth - Alistair Brownlee

Alistair Brownlee became Britain's first Olympic champion in Triathlon with a brilliant performance in front of a huge crowd in Hyde Park while his brother Jonny won a Bronze medal.  This was Great Britain's 19th Gold of London 2012.

A small place just outside of Leeds.  Easy to spot and easy to park... simple.



47 - Cookridge Street, Leeds - Nicola Adams

Nicola Adams sealed her golden moment with an Ali shuffle as she overwhelmed China's double world champion Ren Cancan 16-7 to be crowned the first ever Olympic women's Boxing champion at the ExCel.  This was Great Britain's 24th Gold of London 2012.

Pretty easy to find and we got lucky with a crafty parking space only a few feet from the postbox.

46 - Railway Street, Huddersfield - Ed Clancy

Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Steve Burke and Peter Kennaugh beat Australia in the final of the Team Pursuit with a new World record of 3:51.659.  This was our 7th Gold of London 2012.

Just another rainy Sunday hunting for postboxes.  Not much to say here other than we found it and got our pictures.  Onward !

45 - Deansgate, Bolton - Jason Kenny

Kenny's previous two Olympic Golds came in the Team Sprint alongside Chris Hoy, but now the 24-year-old is an individual champion after a sensational 2-0 final victory over three-time world champion Gregory Bauge of France.  This was Great Britain's 18th Gold of London 2012.

This was our second Jason Kenny postbox of the day.  It was on the main street outside a large civic building and we parked around just the corner.  We were thankful that we knocked off these northern cities on one Sunday and managed to get through them all without any real hassle.

44 - Churchgate, Bolton - Jason Kenny

Chris Hoy, Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny won the three-lap Team Sprint in a world record of 42.60 seconds.  This was Great Britain's 5th Gold of London 2012.

A little shopping area down a small side street.  It's Sunday so we parked right next to it so we could balance the camera on the car roof.



43 - Lloyd Street, Manchester - Phil Hindes

Chris Hoy, Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny won the three-lap Team Sprint in a world record of 42.60 seconds.  This was Great Britain's 5th Gold of London 2012.

Our first stop of the day, nice and early on a Sunday morning.  In and out like ninjas !

Life, the Universe and Everything

The answer is 42 !!  Another 283 miles so that's a grand total of 3392 miles for 42 postboxes.  Just under 81 miles per box.  We have only 13 more to do !!  We'll make a final trip at the end of the month and finish off in Bedworth soon afterwards.  Look forward to sharing it with you.

42 - Hart Street, Henley-on-Thames - Henley Rowers

Another extra postbox !!  This time for all the Henley rowers who have gone on to have such great success in the Olympics.  Basically, it's a vanity excercise for the town.  Henley looks really nice but it must be a right pain during the 5 days of the Henley Regatta.  There was a Triathlon underway when we arrived and they had closed some roads so although the box was really easy to get to, we had to take the long way round to leave.

 

41 - Ewell Road, Cheam - Joanna Rowsell

Joanna Rowsell, Dani King and Laura Trott won the Women's Team Pursuit with a blistering sixth consecutive world record time of 3:14.05 to take Great Britain's 14th Gold of London 2012.

Alas !  No Railway Cuttings and no East Cheam !  What do you mean, you don't get it?  We really like Cheam.  It's quite a pretty little place (for London) although all of West London has been a pleasant experience.  So now we make the 35 mile hop to Henley before heading home again...

40 - Church Road, Wimbledon - Andy Murray

Surprisingly, this postbox was really hard to find... even though it is right outside one of the most famous sporting venues in the world !!  For a start, the postcode we got for the All England Lawn Tennis Club was incorrect.  Secondly, there are absolutely no signs for Wimbledon anywhere in Wimbledon.  And, it's actually in Merton.  We were so lost that we found Sophie Hosking's postbox while we were trying to find this one.  More importantly, if you remember, Andy already has a box in his hometown so this was all totally unnecessary !

 

39 - Worple Road, Wimbledon - Sophie Hosking

Katherine Copeland and Sophie Hosking - who only came together this year - were roared to victory in the Women's Lightweight Double Sculls beating China by over a length to claim Great Britain's 10th Gold of London 2012.

We found this box during our "Where the hell is Wimbledon?" phase.  We were going to do this one after Andy Murray but we must have been approaching Wimbledon from the wrong side as we reckon the signage is much better (in that it actually exists) from the M25.  Postbox was in a good location and all of today's boxes have been in really pleasant surroundings.  A great trip all round.

 

38 - Broad Street, Teddington - Mo Farah

Mo Farah won his second Gold with a thrilling victory in the 5000m on the final night of action in the Olympic stadium.  He produced another brilliant performance to complete the long distance double.  This was Great Britain's 26th Gold of London 2012.

Mo Farah's second postbox is outside a shop called Fara Books and they have added the "Mo" which was a really nice touch.  We parked, and grabbed lunch, at the nearby Tesco - just follow the pink arrows.

37 - London Road, Isleworth - Mo Farah

Within minutes of Jessica Ennis and Greg Rutherford claiming Gold, Mo Farah capped a memorable night for British athletics by winning the 10.000m in thrilling fashion with a blistering final lap of 53 seconds. This was Great Britain's 13th Gold of London 2012.

Now we enter Lubs' old student stomping grounds and very pleasant they were.  This postbox is prominently situated on a busy street and we invented the Duo-Mo-Bot for the occasion.  We're smiling because we feel slightly foolish but we're also having a good laugh about it.  Mo legitimately has two postboxes so we'll rush on to the next without further ado.

36 - Heathfield Terrace, Chiswick - Pete Reed

The first box of our London trip.  Situated outside of Chiswick Town Hall, this one was very easy to spot and, being Sunday, we were able to conveniently park right outside.  Pete was given a second postbox because he lives and trains nearby but that doesn't explain why he has two - we've already visited the other one in his hometown of Stroud.  Royal Mail have told us that they have a procedure for choosing which postbox they paint but haven't told us exactly what it is.  And now they've painted a little one outside his parent's house...  It's not appeared on the official site thankfully...

I Would Walk Three Thousand Miles...

Over 3000 miles.  Wow!  The trip to Scotland and back was very tiring but such a beautiful country.  We have now travelled 3109 miles to get 35 golden postboxes... an average of 88 miles per box.

35 - Hunter Square, Edinburgh - Chris Hoy

Chris Hoy became the most successful Briton in Olympic Games history with six Gold medals after winning the Keirin with an average speed of over 69km/h.  This was Great Britain's 21st Gold of London 2012.

Part Two:  At least this one was easier to find but by then we had bought a small map to help us.  And notice that this postbox has been sealed up !!  So back to the car (no parking ticket thankfully) and time to leave.  I could feel Lubs' anger as he pushed me and he admitted that he was about to punch the next person who got in the way.  Again, lack of signage meant that we were in danger of never leaving the city and we really wanted to leave !  Finally we got out, calmed down and headed for Glasgow to pick up the M6 and go home.  Overall Scotland was awesome and really beautiful but you'll never see us in Edinburgh again !!