Page 38 of The Trip of a Lifetime

‘Well, that’s perfect then.’

‘But what will the work be?’ Erin asked. ‘I don’t know anything about pigs.’

‘Just cleaning up a bit and feeding the animals. Nothing too strenuous. I’ll run you through it all in the morning.’

The barn, it turned out, was nothing like I imagined. If Nellie was having sleepovers in it, I had pictured fairy lights and maybe some mattresses at the very least. There were neither of those things, though. The barn was being used as a shed really, with huge tubs of pig feed and farm equipment. It wasn’t warm or cosy and I had to assume that Nellie wasn’t having her sleepovers in May.

Just as I was wondering whether we would have to curl up around the pig feed, Louise pointed to a ladder that led us up to a hayloft. I knew this was what it was used for because when I poked my head up, I could see bits of hay all over the floor. It was dry, I thought, at least it was dry.

‘This will do us very nicely,’ I said before Erin could offer up an opinion of her own. ‘Is there a toilet we can use?’

‘Yes, there’s the farm workers’ biffy,’ Louise said. ‘It’s just behind the barn.’

‘A biffy?’ asked Erin.

‘That’s what we call the outhouse,’ she said.

‘Great,’ I said. ‘Thanks again.’

‘Well, I’ll leave you ladies to get set up then and I’ll see you bright and early in the morning.’

‘I’m so glad Noah isn’t here filming this,’ I said when Louise had gone. ‘The look on your face was priceless. It still is.’

‘I kept waiting for her to tell us it was a joke and that of course we were going to use her spare room. Are we really going to sleep in here?’ Erin said, her face a picture of disgust.

‘This is a great opportunity,’ I said. ‘To not have the cost of accommodation will really help our cash. Unless you have another opportunity up your sleeve?’

‘No,’ she said grudgingly and began to unroll her mat and shake out her sleeping bag.

‘I’m going to check out this biffy. What an adventure,’ I said and Erin shuddered. I chuckled as I climbed back down the ladder.

It was getting colder outside and I decided I’d sleep in my clothes. Quite honestly, the thought of getting undressed was unpleasant and the only things I was going to remove were my trainers, and maybe not even those. The day had been quite mild but now the sun had well and truly gone, the temperature had dropped considerably.

The biffy was exactly what I thought it might be and probably all the more unappealing in my weak torchlight. At least I wouldn’t be able to see any creepy-crawlies sharing the space. It was a wooden hut with a door that didn’t close properly but at least it wasn’t just a hole in the ground. There was a proper toilet and even a small sink. It smelled awful and judging by the full bottle of toilet cleaner on a rickety shelf, wasn’t often, if ever, cleaned. I exercised my thigh muscles by hovering over the seat as I relieved myself.

Erin was already in her bag when I returned. I considered drinking some of the water from the bottle I kept in my rucksack before I got into mine, but didn’t fancy another trip to the loo in the night so decided against it.

I shuffled closer to Erin to keep us both warm and really it wasn’t that bad.

‘How are we doing with our cash?’ Erin asked in the dark.

‘Churchill will be the halfway point in the race and depending on how much the train fare is up there and back, we’re about halfway through the money. I think that’s pretty good, to be honest.’

‘I think Harrison and Sam might be being a bit spendy,’ Erin said. ‘They made up that massive time difference to get the bus to here. Maybe they got a taxi. They might run out before the end of the race.’

‘That would make our win all the less triumphant,’ I said.

‘Do you really think we’ll win?’

I honestly didn’t. We hadn’t managed to come first at the two checkpoints so far. I didn’t think I was physically strong enough in truth. My knee was aching far more than I would admit to and I was fairly exhausted most of the time. I had such ambitious thoughts at the beginning of the race. My want to beat Harrison had driven those thoughts but the challenge was huge. Canada was huge. We weren’t even at the halfway point yet and truthfully I would be delighted to get on a plane at the nearest airport and fly home.

‘I do. I can picture us on the finish line with a cheque for fifty thousand pounds in our hands.’

I listened to the sound of Erin falling asleep but my eyes were wide open in the dark. I was wondering how I was going to make that unlikely picture come true.

18

ERIN