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Sunday 29th August That famous morning! After a fitful night's sleep, or in Kate's case none at all, we dodged the huge shower queue at Paul's house and got ready for our trip of a lifetime (!!!?). We arrived at the school in style dragging farewell balloons and with butterflies in our stomachs. A big group of people started to build, most of them decked in red 'GondarLink' t-shirts ready to help do their bit in our cycle for Ethiopia. All our friends and family were there to wish us well and to make sure they got rid of us! Tears were flowing (rightly so ... whether they were of joy or sadness we guess we'll never know!). Eventually we set off with about 30-odd stragglers (jus' kiddin') in tow to destination No.1 - Chalfont St. Giles. Much to the amusement of others, Kate had absolutely no idea where to go - good start and extremely encouraging!? I think my family are quite relieved that Paul has a sense of direction! Although this remains to be seen! In her eagerness to get going, Kate nearly left victims of her - shall we say - "vigorous cycling" in her wake! Here was our final farewell to our families before we disappeared up the hill with 5 other lads from Challoner's to our next destination that day - Shepherds Bush. It doesn't do much to encourage greater cycle use when the cycle path wanders and the police don't like big groups of cyclists on the A40! It was definitely not the most convenient way to travel ... also watch out for those lamppost ambushes (Kate!). At least our weary bodies would be revived at Shepherds Bush by Chris and Jonny Grant (well done lads for cycling that way!) when we got taken out for lunch! So this is it - Kate and I are now on our own and compared to the A40, High St. Kensington and Westminster were wonderfully stimulating riding! And before long we were climbing Shooters Hill to Alex Mingozzi's house (a uni mate of Paul's). Our last night perhaps for a very long time in a comfy bed! Alex's ma and pa did us proud with one of the largest spreads we've possibly ever seen! Thank you - our tumtums are still full! Monday 30th Aug Destination Canterbury. Today we had a relatively simple task - follow the A2 from Black Heath to Canterbury. We didn't realise that Kent was so hilly! To be honest, as it was quite a hot day and we were intent on leaving England to start our expedition properly, much of the journey was of little note. Our little leggies went round and round and the miles slowly passed as we left London and headed into the Garden of Eden (Kate: I didn't know that Kent was the Garden of Eden - but that's to be expected!) (Editor's note: they mean Garden of England). The dual carriageway of the A2 into Canterbury was particularly depressing especially with a short burst of rain and strong wind. Canterbury's nice - like most other pretty English towns but the campsite was excellent - even if it was at the top of the steepest hill that day! Tuesday 31st Aug Getting up at an ungodly hour of 5.30am has never been one of our strong points but we managed to get up, bicker and get on our way... grumpily! The easy 16 miles that we had envisaged to get to Dover turned into a fiercely undulating 21 mile thrash to catch our 10am ferry! But true to form we arrived 20mins before boarding, first dibs on bike racks in the hold and ... still bickering! We'd never like to let you guys down! The lure of breakfast smells wafted downstairs and quickly beckoned us - we promptly scoffed the lot, conveniently ignoring the cost and the fact that Kate's hand really couldn't manage cutting sausages! The toll of continuous hours of holding handlebars has left our hands (previously the least of our worries!) badly bruised and inoperable at times! Whilst munching on bacon and eggs we watched the white cliffs of Dover dwindling in the distance… we really had started... (or when's the next flight to Ethiopia? !!). Upon arrival, we found the Calais tourist office extremely helpful and it gave Kate a chance to speak French! Yippee! They set us on our way along what will be our long-term road companion - the N43! ... on the wrong side of the road!!? A few kilometres later we reached Ardres with plenty of campsites - all but one full! And a great ice cream shop - we definitely don't know how to do ice cream in England! By then, we were quite chuffed to have stayed up until 9pm! Something of a rarity on our camping trips! Wednesday 1st September A 7am set off allowed us to have a leisurely start and to catch the 'boulangerie' for chocolatines and pain aux raisens for brekkie, and to strap half a baguette onto each of Kate's rear panniers! These were only very temporary road companions! We arrived in St. Omer and this was late enough for lunch where we demolished one of the most amazing sandwiches we've ever had - brie, salami and tomato baguettes in a car park - sorry - town square! It's sad to say but the next 20 something miles to Bethune were really just a slog! After a struggle with the local tourist information centre, a phone card and a healthy dose of bickering á la Kate and Paul, we located a campsite with spaces in a little village a few km away! 50 miles from Ardres and we could finally pitch our tent and admire our shorts, socks and glove marks in our beautiful 'rosy' tans! Thursday 2nd September 176.8miles We're nearly 200 miles into our journey in a little campsite in a little town called Beuvry, outside Bethune. Thinking we're well away from England, we're now surrounded by 100's of Brits; some annual military festival has come to town and our campsite seems to be slap bang in the middle of it!! Huge green trucks have just arrived crammed with army lads - remind us to stay clear of Beuvry in September time in future! We're coming towards the end of our first rest day - a well-deserved break but our legs still don't feel ready for another 50 miles tomorrow! Neither do our hands, especially Kate's. Am now particularly concerned as my writing seems to have become a dribble on paper and I am dreading the need to sign when using my credit card! Doh! After a few domestic chores this morning ... washing those delightful padded inner shorts and then darting into the showers for our quick "7 mins seulement" (tokened showers!) ... we then emerged fresh and clean-er and rode into town on our blissfully unladen bikes! Took the opportunity to treat ourselves (seeing as it is the very beginning of our trip) to some 'moules frites' and a good ol' people watch in the town square! May we add that the 'office de tourisme' at Bethune is very inhospitable for any of you travellers - don't go in expecting any help - you won't find it! Friday 3rd September Today our plan was to get a really good long day's travelling done to somewhere the other side of Lens and Douai. We left the site dodging army trucks and camouflaged tents whilst desperately trying not to make too much noise with the spokey dokeys - sorry guys - they're probably going to have to be removed soon for sanity's sake! It was straight forward to Lens - making good time. We got stuck in morning rush hour in Lens-en-Goyelle where Kate decided to have close encounters with a truck and road resurfacing gravel! Slightly shaken, we arrived in Lens where breakfast was the order of the day! It gave Kate a bit of blood sugar after her recent fright! After this our paced slow down as we struggled to navigate the confusing cycle paths of Lens and Douai - often leading to motorway entrances and the hooting of car horns! Not recommended! Finally we left these two cities behind us, finding ourselves back on the N43 towards Cambrai. The weather has been so hot - riding in 35° is not ideal! By the time we got to Cambrai we were hot, bothered, out of water and thirsty! Our original plan was to continue past Cambrai to another campsite but, feeling absolutely shattered and hot, we found that there were no campsites on route within a 2 hour ride that we hoping for. So we opted for the overpriced; massively outdated youth hostel on the outskirts of the city. We would definitely not recommend hostelling in Cambrai if you can help it, nor cooking in their kitchen! Saturday 4th September After our disappointing mileage the previous day we wanted a good day today - bring on the 5am start! Found a little, if slightly injured wild cat meowing outside the door but with no food on us and spokey dokeys going mad it trundled off! Kitted out with lights, we soon picked up our friend, the N43 and bumbled along. Despite painful knees and sore bottoms we pushed on nearly 50 miles to Hirson. On our way, we passed through a little town called La Capelle where for some reason we had the surreal experience of being subjected to a local radio station being broadcast on a PA system all along the main street! Kate could not stop giggling! Once in Hirson we managed to locate a lovely bar, to wait out the midday sun and the opening of the tourist office. It's amazing how many young lads completely absorb themselves in driving around in badly driven scooters, mopeds and poorly resprayed cars! When it opened, the girl in the tourist office was extremely helpful and friendly. She has been the only genuinely helpful adviser we have come across so far! She kindly rang through and booked us in to a campsite in Signy Le Petit. Thankfully with this in mind it gave us the last bit of drive to bike another 20km to the site which was at the top of a massive hill in the woods! Very beautiful but nearly finished Kate off after our 60 mile bike ride that day! Sadly the pool had shut so that wasn't an option! Mind you, it was a relief to have inviting showers! Kate and Paul x
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Challoner's, Fasiledes, Amersham, Buckinghamshire