'Your medals as well as mine'

THOUSANDS swayed to the Rio beat for Olympic champion Peter Reed's spectacular homecoming tour on Saturday.

All along the route around Stroud, and on to Nailsworth, crowds rushed to salute the oarsman's London 2012 and Beijing 2008 victories.

Two youngsters in the crowd utside the Sub Rooms, cheer their hero
Peter Reed holds up his two Olympic gold rowing medals on the balcony of the Sub Rooms as hundreds cheer, including Claire Freeman,16, above
Crowds cheer Peter at The Subrooms Stroud Olympic Gold Medal Winner Peter Reed, rower, from Nailsworth, Civic Receptions in Stroud and Nailsworth, open bus tour and visit to Forest Green Rovers at half time. PICTURES SIMON PIZZEY Olympian September 15 2012
Peter meets his fans, including, left, Daisy Walker and dad Henry
Crowds cheer Peter at The Subrooms Stroud Olympic Gold Medal Winner Peter Reed, rower, from Nailsworth, Civic Receptions in Stroud and Nailsworth, open bus tour and visit to Forest Green Rovers at half time. PICTURES SIMON PIZZEY Olympian September 15 2012
Peter is mobbed on the forecourt of the Sub Rooms as fans young and old want autographs and pictures
Snap happy fans on the Sub Rooms' forecourt
Anaya and Archie Powis with their Olympic and Paralympic dolls
Families turned out to cheer the Peter Reed bus as it drove into Nailsworth
Peter surrounded by fans in Nailsworth
All ages turned out to cheer Peter in his home town
Peter Reed with dad Leo and mum Sue
Children, parents and grandparents were all there to welcome Peter home
Nailsworth High Street Olympic Gold Medal Winner Peter Reed, rower, from Nailsworth, Civic Receptions in Stroud and Nailsworth, open bus tour and visit to Forest Green Rovers at half time. PICTURES SIMON PIZZEY Olympian September 15 2012
Keira and Owen Hynes cheer Peter into Nailsworth
Nailsworth Olympic Gold Medal Winner Peter Reed, rower, from Nailsworth, Civic Receptions in Stroud and Nailsworth, open bus tour and visit to Forest Green Rovers at half time. PICTURES SIMON PIZZEY Olympian September 15 2012
A resident on the route gets a good view of the bus tour
Former Olympian Dan Robinson with sons Jasper and Max were at the parade
Nailsworth High Street Olympic Gold Medal Winner Peter Reed, rower, from Nailsworth, Civic Receptions in Stroud and Nailsworth, open bus tour and visit to Forest Green Rovers at half time. PICTURES SIMON PIZZEY Olympian September 15 2012
Picture framer Mark Lowe, whose business is in Nailsworth, put on a display of his grandfather Douglas Lowe's Olympic medals won in the 800 metres in both 1924 in Paris, and 1928, in Amsterdam. The display was part of Nailsworth's tribute to Olympic gold medal rower Peter Reed
Forest Green football fans welcome Peter at half time
Peter meets young fans on Forest Green's pitch at half time with fiance Frauke Oltmanns

While on the upper deck of the Stroud Life open top bus, a samba band heralded his road to the Rio 2016 games, Saturday was simply about the Nailsworth Royal Navy officer deservedly soaking up the adulation.

He spared a moment for everyone who wanted an autograph, a handshake, a photo, or a chance to hold his precious gold medals.

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"I am so proud to be part of Team GB, part of a nation that got it right," he told invited guests at Stroud District Council's civic reception.

"To see how much goodwill there is in the country towards the athletes and what has been achieved, shows what's great about sport.

"The qualities of the Olympians and Paralympians has really inspired the next generation, and I have seen it for myself at home – the excitement for what has been achieved is amazing.

"I was only a minor fraction of that performance and it really is an honour to be part of this today."

Fiance Frauke Oltmanns, mum Sue, dad Leo and sister Sarah Nichols saw for themselves just how much Peter's second coxless four Olympic gold meant to the people of Stroud and Nailsworth.

"I have to say "no" to my family so often," said Peter, whose life in training is often conducted far away from home. "It's wonderful to know I have a support base at home. I am thrilled to be back. I am speaking from the heart. My medals are as much as for you as for me."

Several thousand people lined the streets of both towns, and along the route through Rodborough, Lightpill, Rooksmoor, Woodchester, and Inchbrook.

Traffic stopped, horns blared,

flags waved and cameras clicked from all available vantage points.

Peter received a rapturous reception in Nailsworth, where he signed autographs and gave a speech at the town hall, before heading up to Forest Green Rovers' New Lawn ground for a half-time pitch appearance.

He won many friends earlier this week on visits to schools including Beaudesert Park,

St Dominic's RC Primary and Acorn, and Horsfall

House care centre for the elderly.

On Saturday Olympic fever gripped the district for modest man who left Nailsworth for service with the Royal Navy and returned an Olympic hero.