2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back...

Dear friends and supporters,

Yesterday wasn’t a good day for Jonathan. All started well, with J & Brett having breakfast and setting off as usual in the morning. The only problem was that instead of turning right out of the campsite just outside Carlisle they stayed at on Thursday night, they turned left…

We still don’t know how exactly that happened, as I had talked to Brett first thing in the morning giving him the general direction to head for (this is a quick check we introduced after the Solihull detour). It must have been another one of those tech failures with Brett most likely pressing something that he wasn’t supposed to press.

So they ended up cycling back to the Lake District. It wasn’t till they got to just outside Windermere (Ambleside) that Brett got an inkling that perhaps it was not where they were supposed to be. He called to ask me to reorganise the hotel but did not tell J as he was fearing his (over)reaction.

He did tell him when they stopped off for a meal in Bothel. Jonathan did not take the news well. He screamed, cried and shouted and became very dejected, saying that he will now never complete the challenge. And that everyone will laugh at him and he’s a failure. Basically, thinking the worst rather than seeing it as an obstacle to overcome. Many autistic people find that their brain goes straight to worst case scenario. It’s called catastrophising and it’s very difficult to get past. Even when he calmed down, he was adamant that he didn’t want to continue, that we should give the donations back to everyone and insisted on going back home.

As you can imagine, we were really concerned. In the end, we agreed that as it was getting late, they couldn’t go to Edinburgh to catch a train back to London. Instead, we agreed that they would stay in a hotel in Tinto (about 30 miles from Edinburgh and the only hotel I could find at such a short notice) and catch the train back. Brett managed to organise a pick-up truck to take them and their bikes to Tinto.

As of last night J was still very upset and insistent on quitting, saying that things have been ruined by his dad.

However, this morning he decided to continue (‘I’m not a quitter, mum’). He does have several conditions though:

1) Mum to text directions (ie the next bigger town to head for), not just to dad but to him as well
2) Mum to send a photo of the route highlighted on her ‘old-skool’ map (that’s a Collins road map to those over 40) to J & dad
3) Dad to buy a copy of an ‘old-skool’ map…
4) Mum to explain to everyone that J is not a cheater, ie that yesterday’s journey in the pick-up truck only got him to the point he would have got to if his dad had not got the directions so ‘completely and utterly’ wrong.

So picking up on point 4 above, and to set the record straight, here are the mileage calculations:

Total distance travelled by J & Brett by bike yesterday: 76.7 miles
Dalston (just outside Carlisle) to Ambleside (near Windermere): 44.7 miles
Ambleside to Bothel: 32 miles

Had they travelled from Dalston to Tinto, they would have cycled: 69.6 miles.

I hope everyone will understand that the pick-up journey to Tinto yesterday was fully justified to reset the mileage that Jonathan would have covered anyway. However, if anyone has any concerns, I welcome your comments directly to my email (Alexourris@yahoo.com), please do not post them here as Jonathan is still quite fragile about the whole thing. He does not want to talk about yesterday’s detour, it’s his way of coping.

Thank you for your ongoing support and I hope Jonathan will be back on form this evening to tell us more about his travels.

And if you’re looking for a co-pilot for the Dakar Rally, let me know - I’m quite good with directions and old-skool maps.

Autism and Catastrophising