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| Charity Cycle Ride In Aid Of Poole Hospital NICU. | ||||||||||||
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We will be showing our progress on Google maps during the trip.
We hope to be able to update our position at least twice daily so you can get a good adea of how we are doing (or not as the case may be!)
To view our live position click here
Read the blog here...
| 15/06/2008 13:04 | ||
| The end of the ride | ||
Unit. We were met on our arrival and given some welcome drinks for refreshment. We have now completed the tour, Sardinia and back. I would like to say thanks to all those that have contributed. I would also like to thank those that have done the trip with me, I have had such a great time doing both trips with some great people. Keith |
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| 09/06/2008 09:48 | ||
| Sunday | ||
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We made it! Now on the midnight ferry from Caen to Portsmouth after the fin al 83 miles (against the usual northerly wind). The trip has been great although we still have the final 50 miles to Poole in the morning. Looking forward to giving the derriere a rest and enjoying the far better weather in the UK! Total mileage so far is 755 (635 in Franc e at an average of 80 milesaway per day). All in all, a terrific experience with some great people to raise money for a very worthy cause. Don,t forget to pledge a donation if you haven't yet done so. Off to bed to get some rest before the final leg tomorrow. Hopefully we'll find time to enjoy a good fry-up b'fast somewhere. Somebody let me know whe n I'm supposed to stop fuelling up! Nigel |
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| 08/06/2008 16:48 | ||
| We have made it to the coast. | ||
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We have arrived at the coast and can see the sea, well we could if the French had anything like decent weather! We did have a little sun today but that did not last too long. We have done 67 miles so far with about 20 to the ferry. We will them cross overnight to Portsmouth them cycle to Poole NICU. We hope to get to NICU at about 2so. Keith |
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| 08/06/2008 09:48 | ||
| Long rides | ||
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We have been going all out to catch ferry in Caen on sun night. Not getting to camp till 9.30, so blog is a little sparse. On another note, French mobile network seems to be better as live positioning should now be shown (at least it is saying data is being uploaded). |
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| 07/06/2008 06:48 | ||
| Two very lovely men | ||
Not exactly been what they try and tell you, all we seem to see is cold rain. Well we carried on regardless in our totally professional manner, well ok we carried on moaning like a bunch of girls (see picture!). As we were cycling up the Loire we were filmed by the tv that were doing an article on whether to put a cycle path along the canal. Nigel was interviewed by the reporter so he is now giving autographs. . . If anyone really wanted one. We are now about 20 miles from Orleans. We completed another 85 miles. We are all now feeling the pain, its going to be a long next few days. Keith |
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| 06/06/2008 23:18 | ||
| Friday | ||
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Finally the rain stopped after lunch & we completed a very respectable 86mi les against the ever-present northerly cold wind. As we arrived in Chateaun euf, 20 miles short of Orleans, the sun poked through and we're now back un der canvas again. No equipment failures today and plenty of long flat runs along the banks of the Loire. For those of you with access to French TV, I hope you enjoyed the interview with the undersigned, en route, giving an opinion on the obvious benefits of constructing cycle routes on canal tow paths. Couldn't quite fathom the newswortyness of it all but hey, everyone is famous for five minutes. Off to get some sleep before heading north again tomorrow in search of the English Channel by Monday. Nigel |
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| 05/06/2008 22:17 | ||
| A very wet day | ||
Oh and just to add to the fun we had a head wind all day to go with it. We have covered another 85 miles today. We hope to do same tomorrow, which should get us to just short of orleans. Just the 2 little issues today,both related to Huw. Firstly was the amazing ability of Huw to navigate, if managed to direct us to a . . . Field. We them spent the next 2 miles going through farm tracks before getting back to the road. The second one was his wheel. Yet another 2 spokes broke. So after cycling 20 miles like this we finally had to give up and get a new wheel. The wheel is now fitted and looks nice and shiny e26. So thats his worries over, look out France, Huw is now full steam ahead. Well thats it for now, Keith |
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| 05/06/2008 22:02 | ||
| SPAM-LOW | ||
esday, we decided to stay in a motel in St Etienne. There were about 50 oth er cyclists staying there too: gendarmes from Paris heading south. They had a support car and motorcycle outriders, and openly acknowledged that anyon e carrying luggage was obviously much tougher than them! As they headed up the Col de la Republique, we rather smugly turned south towards what we th ought would be flat roads, hugging the Loire. Of course, we were wrong; not only was it about as hilly as Yorkshire, but the weather was decidely noth ern too. We battled against heavy damp air under leaden skies for 75 miles. The change in terrain from yesterday is quite striking: cherry trees and vi nyards have disappeared, replaced by corn fields and dairy cows (lying down , mostly). Huw was unlucky enough to break a couple of spokes and hopped on a train (f or free), to sort it out at the nearest bike shop, 20 miles away and on the other side of the hills. We're now at Marcigny, stocking up on fuel and staying in a very pleasant c hambre d'hotes (a sort of B&B); yes, we are getting soft. I suspect we migh t be working our way up the accommodation-star-rating. Next year I'd vote for a support car and motorcyles. We're OK; morale is good, despite the poor weather. We're still optimistic about making the distance in the time remaining. Nigel has a dodgy knee, but has still managed to work out an elegant and re markably complex dance routine with his bike. You need to see it to underst and. Britain has talent in France. stephen |
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| 05/06/2008 19:18 | ||
| Wednesday | ||
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After crossing the high ridge between the Rhone and the Loire valleys on Tu esday, we decided to stay in a motel in St Etienne. There were about 50 oth er cyclists staying there too: gendarmes from Paris heading south. They had a support car and motorcycle outriders, and openly acknowledged that anyon e carrying luggage was obviously much tougher than them! As they headed up the Col de la Republique, we rather smugly turned south towards what we th ought would be flat roads, hugging the Loire. Of course, we were wrong; not only was it about as hilly as Yorkshire, but the weather was decidely noth ern too. We battled against heavy damp air under leaden skies for 75 miles. The change in terrain from yesterday is quite striking: cherry trees and vi nyards have disappeared, replaced by corn fields and dairy cows (lying down , mostly). Huw was unlucky enough to break a couple of spokes and hopped on a train (f or free), to sort it out at the nearest bike shop, 20 miles away and on the other side of the hills. We're now at Marcigny, stocking up on fuel and staying in a very pleasant c hambre d'hotes (a sort of B&B); yes, we are getting soft. I suspect we migh t be working our way up the accommodation-star-rating. Next year I'd vote for a support car and motorcyles. We're OK; morale is good, despite the poor weather. We're still optimistic about making the distance in the time remaining. Nigel has a dodgy knee, but has still managed to work out an elegant and re markably complex dance routine with his bike. You need to see it to underst and. Britain has talent in France. stephen |
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| 05/06/2008 16:48 | ||
| Huw being himself | ||
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| 05/06/2008 16:48 | ||
| Huw again | ||
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| 05/06/2008 16:47 | ||
| Nigel busy sleeping. | ||
little rest needed. |
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| 05/06/2008 16:47 | ||
| lunch | ||
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46.800657.3.491687,just a quick lunch before decize |
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| 04/06/2008 08:02 | ||
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| 04/06/2008 06:32 | ||
| Tuesday June ? | ||
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Well now, that was a bit of day, to say the least! Our planned early start was scuppered by the necessity to stock up on spare s at the local bike shop in Tournan sur Rhone. Thankfully however the boula ngerie opened earlier so double croisants once again provided sufficient ea rly morning sustinence for the first hour. Finally we departed at 0940 and headed up the Rhone valley. After 2 hours w e nipped off to the east to traverse from the Rhone valley to the Loire. On e minor climb later to 3700ft and we we're gliding down to St. Etienne (the y had a good football team in the 80's apparently). Suprisingly, our legs s omehow managed to keep us going although Keith's snapped saddle at 3000ft d id present an interesting problem! A bit of impromptu engineering using rol led-up waterproof trousers luckily provided a sufficient cushion on top of the stem for him to balance his derriere carefully on the bike until we mad e it to the local bike repair shop in town. As for camping, we're all strictly maintaining the true outdoor philosophy of the trip and with that in mind walked from the hotel bedrooms to the res taurant in the open air. Not a wimp in sight - camping, what's that ? All in all, an amazing day especially the completion of the climb. Thanfull y however, we'll be going north with the flow of the Loire tommorrow, in mu ch flatter terrain. Might even decide to pitch the tent again; who needs a comfortable hotel bed, anyway? Oh yes, I nearly forgot, a measly 52 miles we covered today with all that c limbing. Nevertheless, at least the air stayed in the tyres for a change an d we enjoyed a puncture-free day! More stuff tomorrow. Nigel |
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| 03/06/2008 23:32 | ||
| Keith's story of the hills | ||
to th loire valley. Easy life...... So it was a bit uphill to begin with, never mind. As we continue up we realise its a bit of a hill. Well Steve and I looked at the map a bit closer, slight problem, that'll be 1200m shown as peak. . . Panick! Best we dont tell the others. So on we go. 600m, getting very tired, 700m now extremely tired. 780m and i get a sound of something snapping and me falling off the bike. Look over bike to find the seat bolt has snapped clean through. You can get my exact position from the map. You cant however get my exact language, but i'm sure you can guess! Now i have a problem, I know there is still 400m to climb, guess this will be the 'walk back from Sardinia' version. So 3 miles and 350m uphill I catch up with the others who have been waiting. Time for a very late lunch. A short continuation and we reach the summit, officially 1161m (my altimeter showed 1170, so what do the know!) oh thats over 4000ft according to sat nav. The cycle down was fun, 7% incline all the way down, reached speeds of 44 mph, free wheeling! Mind you without a saddle i did that standing on the pedals for 22 minutes, boy was i knackered! After some cycling around St Etiene got the bike fixed, and my wallet - e65 for a broken bolt, that hurt (almost as much as the break in the first place). Anyway all fixed now so heres to some flat riding tomorrow. Keith |
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| 03/06/2008 10:47 | ||
| Tournon sur Rhone | ||
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Here we are again, 100 miles further on from last night's wet stop in Avign on. No wimps amongst us; we've dried out the wet tents & sleeping bags and have once again encamped ourselves next to the Rhone. The weather gods haven't been kind to us and we peddaled throgh thunder sto rms for a lot of the morning. Another hearty luch of moules, pasta and rose wine however once again delivered the requisite energy boost to the legs. The Rhone valley provides ideal cycling cinditions within the flat, wide va lley floor. The wine isn't bad, either. Punctures were once again an interuptionto progress but we've now perfected Formula 1 skills to deal with them in super-fast time. Tomorrow we'll hop across into the Loire at which point we'll really feel w e're heading north. 100 miles will be unlikely tomorrow due to the cross-ov er into the other river system; log on again tomorrow to find out if we're still struggling uphill by the end of the day or if we're having a dowb-hil l run to the Loire. We're also taking bets on the number of new inner tubes we can go through before we get back! Nigel |
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| 01/06/2008 22:32 | ||
| Sunday at Avignon | ||
Fuelling-up became a major part of the day (not a problem for me, personally!)Who on earth could possibly complain about double morning croissants and bananas followed by a leisurely lunch of sausicon & frites. The pichet of Rose wine seemed to provide turbo power for us in the afternoon until Steve suffered a puncture on the final approaches. A cold beer is now slipping down whilst the we wait for the washing to finish in the campsite laundry - a cyclist's job is never done! The bad news is that it''s now 9pm and the rain is just about to start; now, why would anyone possibly want to stay in a warm, dry B & B? Catch up with us tomorrow to find out which members of the team opted for the warm bed - wimps! Off for dinner now to put more fuel on board - apparently you have to keep doing this months after the trip has finished (fantastic) Nigel. |
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| 31/05/2008 18:02 | ||
| Good bye Corsica | ||
some new inner tubes for Nigel. Due to the ability of 3 men trying to pump up Nigels type we managed to rip the value off. Not so good when we are our usual late leaving camp site and having 50 minutes to catch the Sardinia to Corsica ferry which was supposed to be 5km away. That will be a Sardinia 5km, or in real distance 10km! Then we cycled through Corsica for 20 miles to catch the marseille ferry. And that is where we are now. Next stop marseille after a night sailing so hopefully get some sleep. Well we might, poor simon was supposed to be in a cabin with a drunk that was smoking in the cabin. He is now on the floor with Huw and Nigel. So far we have cycled 110 miles and climbed over 1000 meters. I seem to have data connection now we are in France, so hopefully the live position should be working (not whilst sailing obviously). Huw email is doing strange things, mind you so is the phone full stop (or is it just Huw) Hopefully we can sort things out. Or in Huw's case maybe not. |
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| 31/05/2008 15:17 | ||
| lunch before ferry at posto vecio | ||
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| 31/05/2008 11:47 | ||
| test ride | ||
minutes and 6 miles later i an at porto conte and it is a beautiful day. Bike seems ok, i feel a little out of practice. Too busy catching the run by the pool. Not long now and the others will be out here and we will start.Currently unable to send data, hence live position not shown, any ideas let Huw know.Herds to a good ride, keep watching this space. |
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| 30/05/2008 23:33 | ||
| Steves hat | ||
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| 30/05/2008 23:33 | ||
| Santa Teresa | ||
Keiths children have is a heresy send of with a message that they had made while on holiday (see todays photo ) Nigel was super fast with his power gel which he brought from the uk one sip of this stuff and he was of like a rocket and hit 32 mph on the flat Know one could keep up, mind you his speed did lead to the first puncture of the day his tyres could not cope ! We also got an insite today to what Keith carries in his handle bar back , lots of useful geeky stuff like he could rewire Sardinia ! Stephen has a very nice hat ................. See next Blog Anyway the interesting stuff is we coverd over 85 miles today it was fantastic, great weather with 20 knots of wind on our backs and the sun shining, fab views we made great progress and we achived our goal of Santa Teresa ready to cross to Corsica in the morning. That's all for now Huw |
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| 29/05/2008 23:47 | ||
| Pirate Simon | ||
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| 29/05/2008 23:47 | ||
| Arriving in Alghero | ||
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| 28/05/2008 16:17 | ||
| Getting ready to go | ||
The weather in Sardinia is great very hot and humid not like it is here in the uk! Only problem is we will need to carry a few extra kilos of water! Keep an eye on the Blog and our progress and please feel free to donate. Many thanks Huw |
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| 23/05/2008 14:32 | ||
| Here we go | ||
Simon will pack 10mins before we set off and I have annoyed my family for the last 6 weeks by packing and re-packing every night ! |
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| 21/05/2008 15:47 | ||
| Pre departure BBQ | ||
beach. So here are all the team enjoying the lovely brit weather on the beach. I will be off on saturday, the others arriving next thursday, them we start the ride on the 30th. Wish us luck! |
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