A Big Thank You

​

Just to let you know, we are now safely back in the UK and closing in on our fundraising target of £3,500 excluding gift aid. 

We are currently sitting at £3401 plus we have a couple of donations still to come in which makes a grand total of £3832 inc gift aid.

A Big Thank You to......

Ross Penstone Smith, Colin Bromley, Keshav Lohiya, Ross & Eloise ("The Feakers"), Samantha, Elise Bromley, Sophie Bromley, Vanessa and family, Nick Rooney, The Smith Family, The Hayes family, Sue & Barry, Gwen & Graham, Martin and Jill Halford, The Rusz Family, Paul & Marian, John & Eileen Clarke, Geoff & Eileen, Matthew Sills, The Lean Family, Stephen Roche, Ian & Julie Thompson, Glyn & Marjorie, The Tayars, Anne & John B, Maggs, Laura and Ben, Mary and Anthony Bruce, Paula, The Parish family, Katie Lovedee, Carolyn and Peter Stott, Pete & Julie, Friends from Ickenham, Brian and Nicola, Bob & Yvonne, Mary & Mel, Jason, Rodney, Miranda, Sophie Astwood, Dalia, Caroline Strong, Sarah, Sue Gore, Ken Bromley, Erandi Stretton, Fiona Callaghan, Margie and John Minty, Rhodri, Paul Webb, The Stevenson Family, John Ros and Sam, Simon Titley, Val and Jim Clarke, Jamie and Claire, Jo Fowler, Helen Nias, Kat Tolfree, Dave and Beth, Jacqui, Ryan Hawkins, Anthony Partridge, Steve, Jill and Danielle, Bhavana, JB, Hannah, Darren Cass, Rob East, Kim Underhill, Izzy Nias, Addison Baijent, Rosie, Marilyn & Dennis, Lucy & Boz, Benjamin Green, Rob Scoltock, Peter, Lynn Nguyen, Eloise Core, Natasha, Jan Lower, Isabel and Phil, Emily, Gary Hargreaves, Chrissy, Vonny French, Joe Clarke, Emily H, Rhys, Martin, Colin, Michelle Chu, James Harrison, Katie, Dan & the mini Buntings, Hilary Young, Neil & Tina Higgins, Janet Bickford, James Halford, Emma Swayne, Sara Furness, Team Sooper Willy, MK, Ian & Mo in Oz, Andrew Hambelton, Ashwin and Shivanee Mahadeo, Jamie Clarke

Thanks to you, we have massively exceeded our fundraising expectations. The money raised is so important to Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research and will help to ensure people of all ages are given the best possible chance of survival and of living a normal healthy life after treatment for blood cancer. 

If you haven't seen it already, here is a video of our victory lap cycling around the Arc de Triomphe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXUbGEg9O90

Day 4: The Finale

We woke up very excited about the prospect of reaching Paris and were anticipating a relatively straight forward day as it was meant to be our shortest yet. However once we got going in the early morning mist it didnt turn out to be so simple. Firstly we had a very narrow A-road to deal with, with huge lorries passing by inches from us - we could feel their vibrations. Then we had the issue of no flat roads, everyhing was up and down and up and down. We had agreed to meet our team mechanic 20 miles in after 2 hours but because we took so long he left and we ended up reaching the rendevous point after 3 hrs 45 mins meaning we were averaging 6.5 mph which was not going to get us to Paris before dark...

T

Once we had overcome France's version of box hill zigzag Ann said ut was as tough, if not tougher) and played around on some hay....

...we then started to make steady progress and were soon leaving the country fields behindfor the rivers and the suburbs of Paris. We reached inner Paris by 5pm and were getting very excited about the prospect of reaching our destination. It wasnt in fact until 1.5hrs later that we made Iit to the arc de triomphe due to heavy rush hour traffic and traffic lights. When we finally got there we managed 5 laps in chaos (see video below) and then headed off down the champs elysses to the eiffel tower.

We had finally made it, 6 bikes, 5 cyclists, 4 days, 3 dead rabbits, 2 cities and 1 excellent support vehicle later. There were some emotional times at the eiffel tower as ann got out a photo of her dear friend Harry who passed away recently and we finished knowing we had put our bodies on the line raising a lot of money for such a worthwhile cause.

Day 3: The Penultimate Story

Day 3 started with a really pleasant french breakfast and a cycle through aome foggy french rural towns. Things took a turn for the worse after our first pitstop when our directions lead us down a country road ehich turned into a path and then turned into a field. We bumped into a french hunter with a shotgun who was very friendly but couldn't quite understand our predicament.

We carried on through some corn fields (Ann got a nice piece of corn as a memento) and after refucing our average speed from 12.5mph down to 7.8mph we found our way back on to a road. Things then picked up as the roads were flat and lunch was in our sights. Unfortunately nothing is open in france on sundays so it wasnt until 230pm that we found a bakery and managed to buy some fresh bread. after lunch we had one long hill to climb then we followed a straight road for 30miles all the way to our hotel. Other events that unfolded in the afternoon that are worthy of a mention were the fact  we reached 200miles for the trip...

... elise finding a really convenient place for a loo brake...

Ann hitting 27kph on a road speedometer...

 and us arriving earlier than expected at our boudoir for the evening...

Half Way Point

Just woken up on morning of day 3 having got close to 140 miles under our belts. Everyone is in good spirits and not aching too much. Weather is looking good for the day ahead and we have just refuelled with a surprisingly good french breakfast. On our way in 5 mins. Will continue to tweet throughout the day so please keep checking in to see how we are doing.

Day 2: The Story Continued (72.3 miles)

Everyone got a really gd nights sleep and a hearty breakfast before setting off on our long day ahead. However once we got started we were not expecting a mammoth hill in the first 5 mins of cycling this morning. Once on top of those pesky white cliffs of dover it was plain sailing down to the fery terminal and we were  out on the channel crossing by 10.15.

Because we lost an hour in time difference we didnt arrive into calais until close to 1pm and still had a good 60 miles ahead of us to cycle so we cranked it up a gear. It took a while to get used to cycling on the right and a few times at roundabouts we had to shout out to each other to look the other way! Cycling in northern france was very peaceful, with relatively flat roads and very good road surfaces so we were setup for a good afternoon of riding.

We had a little celebration after reaching the 100 mile mark for the trip (a lucozade tablet each) and then cycled hard for the remaining 3 hrs of the day to get in to Rue just after dark.

 Special mention goes to Bill Sophie and Ann for completing their longest cycle rides for the second day in a row and to the 4 dead hedgehogs we saw on the side of the road. Thanks again for all the supportive messages today. They have really kept us going.

Day 1: The Story (66.1 miles)

So after the unfortunate bike theft things picked up on day 1: The Bromley girls made some good early progress and the  Clarke boys managed to buy Bill a new bike in decathlon and set off from Greenwich just after 10.

It was quite windy and the weather changed every five minutes but the route was planned very well by Elise and both the Bromleys and the Clarke parties managed to stay on track and suffered no further mishaps. In the afternoon Sophies chain came off, Sophies pannier bags got pood on and ann got hooted for weeing by the side of the road. There was an unexpected visit from our team mechanic (Colin) and with his encouragement we all managed to reach folkestone by 6pm and have since managed to replenish for tomorrows ride into france. Thanks everyone for you support. Please keep it coming!

And we're off!

So the clarke bromley ride is underway. Its been an eventful start. Bill's bike has been stolen over night so we are one bike short. So joe and bill are making a quick trip to decathlon before setting off and the bromleys girls are getting a head start and have set off in reasonable conditions from greenwich park. Lets hope our luck improves for the rest of the day!