Oh well, at least I don’t have to clean that ruddy porridge pan. Sergeant Doz awoke in a daze after yesterday’s events, which is understandable, but she soon came around when she got out in to that lovely fresh Aviemore air. There was a slight chill in the air today with a few spits and spots of rain, but nothing we couldn’t handle. Captn ITN collected the electronic door keys for Cell Block Aviemore, we piled onto the bus, and headed up the road bidding a fond farewell as we left (no we didn’t – that’s a lie!)
The Little Chef’s Olympic breakfast was the order of the day – even Doz gave it a go – well, not the Olympic one but a lesser version, still a fair effort considering. I did the MFR slot, live from Tomatin – magic! Now - this Olympic brekkie - not as good as the Newtonmore truck stop and almost twice as expensive and, as for the tea, I’ve tasted better in the ol’ BR buffet car days. Mr Chef, your pants pal. Anyways, we stuffed (I use the term loosely) ourselves stupid – after all we were paying for the ruddy thing – didn’t leave a tip and jumped back on the bus. Oi! Mr Chef, I’ll tell you how pants you are – Fro’ didn’t think it was enough and added bits to it off others plates….and he was still hungry!
The feeling amongst the troops seemed very lack lustre at this early hour, which, I suppose, was the culmination of a long week and the anticipation of the homecoming. We gathered at the foot of Daviot Wood, flag flying in the strong breeze, and awaited the call to arms from Captn ITN.
We set off to climb our final hill, which is only a pimple compared to what had gone before, along General Wade’s Road and through the woods. This is prime ambush country and there were screams of attack after attack throughout this section. Our noise of arms echoed around the woods and this was heard by the BENI who’d gathered further up the path. They’d banged their drum and shouted and, to me, it sounded like there was a fair crowd awaiting our arrival. It turned out there was only the two of them – noisy gits. There was much cheering and blowing on horns and a bottle of Whisky appeared from nowhere!!!.
We rendezvoused with Lyndsay and MFR DJ DaveyD (Walker), whom I spoke to live on air earlier, as they joined us for the stroll down the hill to Dows for a beer and buffet reception. There were further ICT supporters awaiting our arrival off the hill and they all tagged on to us as we headed for Dows.
We are now home, well, more or less, and we feel its time now to start to celebrate our achievement and enjoy the occasion, we still have another few miles to go though before reaching the stadium. We leave Dows and head into the town along the Old Edinburgh Road taking with us a fair troop of supporters, cars beeped and folk clapped as we went past. We turned the corner to come down Castle Hill and, with the castle in view, we were about to hit the town. We were greeted by our piper who then proceeded to accompany us all the way through the centre, much the surprise of onlookers who didn’t seem to have a clue what was happening, even the local buskers were being out done, not only by the pipes, but with our charity buckets too. The local constabulary were also on our case as they stopped traffic to assist us in crossing the roads. The biggest cheer, and one that quite took our breath away, was the magic applause from the Dundee United supporters who had gathered at Shots pub – brilliant.
The Innes Bar was packed full of supporters from both sides and the incredible Innes Bar ICTFC Supporters club crowd had nothing but admiration for what we had achieved so far. There was much swigging of beer (by some) before we had to depart this scene to head for the stadium and our champagne reception. The piper continued to accompany us to the stadium and there was a distinct party atmosphere as we approached the ground.
The Tulloch Caledonian Stadium is now in front of us as we head towards the main doors – we had done it. There were a few emotional moments outside the stadium and some inside too. We were treated to a tipple of the ol’ champers and a thank you speak was done by Lyndsay. The young lady ‘host’ then introduced us to Hissy as he walked in but, she was taken aback when she was about to introduce Caff – he interrupted her and said “It’s OK I know this lot”…pure class Stu. Both players offered their congratulations – which was nice. Magic in fact.
But our walk is not quite over yet, we have yet to walk around the pitch and take the applause of the crowd. This truly is a magical moment and well worth all those miles walking. We enter the stadium to the P.A. announcement and walk around with our piper taking it all in and shaking as many hands as possible. Although there weren’t that many in the ground at the time the atmosphere was still good. Those Dundee Utd fans that were there were truly magnificent in their support. The support was equally as good from the ICT fans and I will never forget this magical moment. Shame about the result at the end of the game but it was still a good day to end to walk.
Team Gringo Ped’ Reading: 8.7 miles. 16740 steps