My last post

Seems it didn't make it to the blog. Might have something to do with the 8mb of photos I attached.

Also seems that the picture of the injury didn't make it up either?

I'm going to post them all individually...

Holy Moly!!!!

Who ever coined the phrase "England's garden" to describe Kent was clearly on drugs. No one has ever seen a garden that is as steeply hilly as Kent!!! Cycling for 11 hours up and down hills is quite the ordeal. The soles of my feet hurt, my bum is going to be sore tomorrow and I really need a bath. Goodnight and good luck to us tomorrow.

Well that was hard

Firstly let me say how much I hate my new nemesis: The Kent Countryside. After 90 miles of the so called rolling hills I can tell you there is nothing rolling about them.

Of course it doesn't help realising you've been going the wrong way for miles. The sinking feeling was enough to make Neal cry!
Well after 12.5 hours we made it to Dover by the skin of our teeth as it went dark within 30 minutes of arriving.

Good night Zoe and give Peterson a kiss from me.

Ferry

The ferry feels very far away! I don't think we're going to make our planned ferry...

Some KILLER hills since the last update, Neal and Rich have both fallen off.

Everyone is knackered!

Lost

So after trailing behind to take some photos for the Blog I stopped to pack the camera away (onto the second set aof batteries already Rich!). After setting off to catch the pack up, there was a very misleading signpost which pointed to Aylesford Village. Knowing that we were headed to Aylesford, I took a left. Turns out everyone else had gone right!

I thus ended up in Eccles (not of the cake fame), miles away from everyone else. So while everyone else took a nice 20 minute break, I was cycling to catch up.

We've stopped now for lunch and my legs thank me.

Vital statistics:
Average speed: 13mph
Total distance : 46.72 miles (everyone else 44)

First day, half time

The bee sting has subsided. Adam got lost. Sitting outside a village (Bearstead) pub. Contemplating having to do it all again. Had to use my despatching skills in London, mounting the kerb to beat the buses. The countryside is unforgiving, with many ups and downs, feels mainly ups.

PS on a plus note, I did partake of some roadside fennel

STOP

as dictated by Neal

From Rich to /kirst and archie

Really enjoying it so far lovely weather and great views in the countryside. I just wish spencer would stop touching me as it makes me feel uncomfortable. LOVE RICH

First Injury!

We're at Dartford Crossing and have already sustained our first injury! Coming down a hill at about 30 mph Neal got hit by a bee. It got stuck in his helmet and stung him.

There was some confusion in the melee, and a couple of us wondered what a beaver was doing in Bexley, let alone in his helmet!

The pictures show us at Tower Bridge after meeting Richard and the horrific injury.

Vital statistics:

Average speed: 13 mph
Top speed: 37.5 mph
Distance covered: 20.5 miles

Day 1 - London to Dover

London to Paris Day 1 (Blackheath to Dover)

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Here we go!!!!

Good morning starshine world says hello!!

Well here we are still sat at Spencers. I was expecting to have been cycling for 30 minutes by now. It is just like the Hurley boys to be putting off doing some exercise. A clean of the teeth and off we go. Wish us luck and the spread betting on whose knees fail them first starts now!!! Go go go go go go!!!

One more sleep!

I'm laid on Spencer's lounge floor on a very comfy matress having not very long ago devoured some delicious turkish food.

Neal's just posting something on the blog from Spen's laptop.

I can hardly wait, can't believe that in the morning we'll all be setting off on the longest journey I've ever been on that hasn't been powered by fossil fuel! I'm only talking the first day's route too.

Spen dropped a bombshell on us by saying that we'd actually be doing an extra 10 miles tomorrow, so 90-odd instead on the 80 I was already aprehensive about! :)

Well it's late, and I really should get to sleep, we're setting off at 7.00 tomorrow and meeting up with Richard at Tower Bridge for the first photo opp!

Adam

An amateurs last meal

Well not long now before we "bring the pain"!! First of all let me thank my wife for finally setting up my just giving page. I do hope she changes the picture, because I look like a total retard. While travelling to London to meet up with Spencer, my younger brother Adam informed me that our first leg (London to Dover) has actually had another 10 miles added to it. Surely Dover has not floated off into the channel by 10 miles has it??? I do remember the phenomenon of long shore drift from GCSE geography, BUT THAT NEVER ADDED 10 MORE MILES TO A JOURNEY!! What is going on??

In the spirit of "dead men walking" we had our last meal before the big day. Adam insisted we go and get a kebab. Thankfully we are currently in north London and there are planty of proper Turkish barbeque places where you can some really tasty healthy food, not those hunks of spit roasted alsastians dripping with low density lipoproteins. I had something which I currently can neither pronounce or spell, but I must say that it was the best £2 I have spent in a long time. Delicious!!!

Pre-tour nerves

I set off to work this morning thinking to myself that today would be my final day in work before the tour. On Monday, it was hard not to think about heading to France on Friday morning. As I dropped my bike off at Halfords for it’s service, I had a sudden flutter of butterflies in my stomach. I was nervous that I hadn’t bought everything I knew I would need, I spent a few panicked moments wandering aimlessly around Halford’s bike section looking at various accessories.

Now, less than 48 hours before we set off, the nerves have been replaced by excitement. As long as the kit I’ve ordered from wiggle.co.uk arrives today, which it should, I'll be entirely ready to go!

I've enjoyed preparing for the tour, and even after a brief scare with a knee injury and rehabilitation after our first ride together I can’t believe we’re about to do this! The thought of arriving in Paris under our own steam is very exciting.

I’ve managed to raise over £800 so far, and hope that some of the people that promised to sponsor me will get their cash in over the next couple of days!

48 hours to go now and everything seems to be organised. Everything except the Macmillan branded cycling jerseys. Both Adam and myself have the uncomfortable thought that we are having to order Extra Large sizes on the eve of the ride. Clearly the training had little effect on the waistline!

I can't wait to see everyone on Thursday night and to get underway on Friday.