Well there you go. We only went and bloody did it.
The back tyre was flat again in the morning: new inner tube, new puncture, no idea how. So I put the old one back on. No tyre trouble for 900 miles then something new every day and three wheel changes (and not the "easy" front wheel, oh no).
After the maintenance at the campsite, the rest of the morning/early afternoon was spent climbing into the clouds of the Peak District. This was tiring and unnecessarily hard work. However, once we'd got past Leek it all got a bit easier. We had some lunch at a Tesco in Macclesfield and simply rode back through Stockport to Manchester. There we stopped at The Didsbury pub for a celebratory pint of cider and tried to make some sense of the epic journey we'd just completed. To be honest, it's a bit difficult to understand or quantify. You spend each day just trying to deal with the distance, navigational issues, bike maintenance, prevailing (shit) weather and complete absence of campsites that you fail to comprehend exactly how far you've gone. Sitting outside the pub was all a bit strange, as is the thought that we don't have to cycle any more. It will probably take a while to sink in.
I think it's quite impossible to explain exactly how difficult, stressful, dirty, annoying, uncomfortable and, obversely, wonderful the ride was overall. So here are some things I am able to quantify at this stage:
1110 miles travelled overall - this was by no means the most direct route from Plan Peisey to Manchester, and included any number of intentional and accidental detours (like shopping, getting lost, following errant cycle paths, and Belgium). It's quite a long way.
31 days total travel time - including three rest days (at Troyes, Dijon and Gent) and one we-can't-go-anywhere-'cause-it's-pissing-it-down-again day at Bar-Le-Duc.
35.8 miles average daily total (41.1 miles excluding rest days).
77.18 miles longest day - from Canterbury to Bishop's Stortford, a day which included a ride on a ferry and plenty of long (but admittedly rarely very steep) climbs.
57.52 miles average for complete days in England (from Canterbury onwards).
10.5-11 stone - apparently what I weigh now after 5 months of work and one month of pretty intense cycling. I've not weighed that little since I was about 13. That's the same as a bag of sugar, or a leprechaun.
£1,444 - the total raised on the charity website when we arrived back in Manchester. It is not too late to sponsor us and support Oxfam, Wateraid, Cancer Research UK, Disability Snowsport UK, and Honour Village Cambodia. We'd really like to smash the £1,500 mark and make the whole experience even more worthwhile. Please please please go straight to
and donate a couple of pounds. It would be hugely appreciated and all goes to excellent organisations.
I don't really know what else to add. Again, there are so many unquantifiable things that have made the trip more, or less, difficult than it probably should have been in some respects. We were really quite unprepared (especially in terms of the gear we took with us) but somehow managed to complete the journey anyway (with any further outlay of capital on vital items). If anyone ever has the urge to do long-distance cycling, on a tandem perhaps, or simply on the continent, there're probably a number of things we could help you with. Just ask, we've got loads of added/pointless knowledge now. It's strange, but you see "normal" cyclists and just feel a bit sorry for them 'cause they might never know the combined joy and pain of real adventure touring. But that's what it was, an adventure. We gave ourselves a fighting chance of completing the trip, despite our lack of preparation, and managed it. Go Team Snow!
I hope you've enjoyed the blog, I've spent almost as many hours writing it as actually cycling. I'm sure we'll be doing more adventuring soon, as soon as we've figured out what to do next, and we'll keep you informed via this medium. Feel free to donate to the Team Snow charity website at any time; it is a very easy and effective way of giving to the five charities outlined so we plan to keep it running indefinitely.
T+30 - Ashbourne to Manchester - 50.08 miles
Plan Peisey (French Alps) to Manchester (UK) - 1110 miles / 31 days
Yesterday, the 14th May 2013, we travelled from Ypres to Dunkirk (I know, we are finally up-to-date). It wasn't half as bad as the day before, the distance was much shorter and there was much less wind. We went through Poperinge (or Pops as it was known) which is also very nice. We had a couple of instances of freezing rain, one within the first mile, but managed to shelter next to Ypres Cloth Hall and a bus stop in the middle of nowhere respectively.
It was nice to get back into France, to ride on the roads and make some proper progress. In the evening we stopped at an F1 hotel in the back end of Dunkirk and had a celebratory cheese sandwich with Belgian beers. We had cycled the breadth of Belgium and the length of France, and now we only have a short trip across the city to the ferry port. It's a bit strange to think of the distance we've already covered, knowing we (just) have to do a couple of hundred miles in England to finish off.
It's a bit sad to be leaving France, but slightly exciting to be going across the channel after 6 months abroad. It'll be very odd to cycle on the wrong side of the road again. I'm just really hoping the weather improves and we can finally put in some proper miles, like we know we can. It's a bit of a shame I've not managed to include more in this blog about the continent, 'cause a lot has happened that I periodically forget. But that'll be for chatting about over a pint of cider I'm sure.
T+24 - Ypres to Dunkirk - 33.8 miles (790 miles overall)
We waited for the rain to stop, then left Gent. We didn't quite choose the right route to start with, so added some unnecessary miles onto our daily distance at the very beginning. Our route took us through Deinze, Wontergem, Dentergem, Meulebeke, Izegem, Moorslede and Zonnebeke to Ypres.
The good things about the day included:
The rain stayed off, although it always threatened, which plays on your mind a bit.
We managed to get to Ypres, have a (local "Ypra") beer and witness the Last Post being played at the Menin Gate.
The bad things about the day:
The constant wind. It was very strong and always in our faces. The ride took forever as a result. We were in a climbing gear for about 5 hours. At least with hills there is the "pay off" of going downhill; with the wind there was no respite. One of the most arduous physical tasks ever.
The roads/cycle paths in Belgium are still rubbish.
It was pretty cold.
As a further indication of how the "everything shuts" rule works, when we got to the Aldi around the corner from the campsite to buy our dinner it had closed an hour early for stocktake. Absolutely typical.
I think this may've been our hardest day so far. The ride was seriously gruelling, with almost no cover from the strong headwinds. Spent most of the journey absolutely hating it.
On the plus side, Ypres is gorgeous and particularly impressive as it was almost entirely destroyed during the First World War then rebuilt.
T+23 - Gent to Ypres - 49.26 miles
Gent was a designated "day off" for sightseeing. We'd aimed as much for Gent as anywhere else, and had heard good things about it from one of our Belgian friends who had originally studied in the city. We're very glad we made the trip. Although it was often bitterly cold (exacerbated by our continuing lack of winter clothes/long trousers) and rained frequently, the city itself was lovely. We walked in from our campsite abode and had a good wander about. Unfortunately all of the museums seemed to charge an entrance fee, so we didn't see those, but we had excellent, and very reasonably priced, soup at the Soup Lounge. Also had a Belgian waffle with chocolate sauce as an extra-special treat. People in Gent drink champagne from small stalls on a Sunday morning, then go shopping for flowers at the Bloemenmarkt as there aren't any shops open.
For us it was a much needed rest for our bodies, even though we probably walked a number of miles. The city was lovely and, we presume as always, in sunny weather would be amazing. Definitely worth a visit. View these pictures with your eyes:
Our notes for this day say simply "super windy, hilly - Belgian mountains." We had previously emailed our Belgian friends to say we were in their country, and been told that our planned route for the day took us over the Belgian mountains. We were hoping this was a joke. It sort-of was.
Belgium doesn't have mountains per se, but it does have lots of rolling hills in the middle. The day's ride started with a trip to the local supermarket (which was very open), this allowed us to buy pain au chocolat (which had secret banana in it) and get immediately disoriented. We ended up going down the worng road. Then the rain came down (which was freezing cold, naturally). The wind was particularly hard for the first hour and, when combined with rain, particularly hard going. Although the wind was pretty consistantly strong and in our faces, hindsight (which, like a tigger, is a wonderful thing) has shown us that it wasn't as bad as it could be.
We'd chosen (and fairly meticulously detailed in our exercise book) a route through Sombreffe, Nivelles, Halle (which on all the signs seems to be just Hal), Popingen and Ninove to the (only) campsite (on this side of Belgium) in Denderhoutem. Our navigating through (periodically wet) Nivelles was impeccable and rewarded by a more Northernly route, which cut across the wind rather than piling straight into it. We therefore flew through Hal (where we should've been singing "Daisy, Daisy") and got to Ninove without getting too cold and wet. We were obviously cold and wet, but not at dangerous levels. If I haven't suggested otherwise, just assume that at any given time we're cold and wet. Cold and wet is the default setting. Also, for Belgium, add gale-force winds counter to our direction of travel.
At Ninove, we took a photo outside the Slaghmuylder brewery which makes best beer in Belgium: Witkap Pater. We've been drinking the Stimulo which is full of flavour, but rounded enough to be a real "session" beer. Absolutely delicious, and completely to my taste. Hooray!
We then got to the campsite, set up and had half an hour before our Belgian friend collected us for an evening in Wemmel. The day's cycling had been hard work, but was thoroughly rewarded once we finished.
We drove (cars are the most comfortable thing ever) past the Atomium which is very large and shiny, to Wemmel, where there was a big holiday fair and "Grand Prix." This involved lots of two-man pedal car racing and a soapbox derby (which is much more difficult for me to pronounce in Flemish). Some of the kids were taking part in the derby, and had custom-made carts, which were very cool. We had friten (the Belgian delicacy) with lashings of mayonnaise, plenty of Witkap Pater and some sort of Hawaiian pitta bread meal. Most of all though we had a lovely time with our Belgian friends. It was very kind of them to drive all the way from the outskirts of Brussels to get us, then take us back, and look after us when we were in their home town. The fair/Grand Prix had a real friendly village-feel to it and it was really nice to know some people who could explain what was going on (and some soapbox racers to cheer on!)
So, to surmise, a tough day on the bike followed by a wonderful evening with friends.
T+20 - Rhisnes to Denderhoutem - 53.12 miles
The day started with the standard changeable sky and threat of rain, but we started off with the intention of doing the best we could. We prepare most days for incredibly wet weather. This means putting plastic bags and socks on our feet in a variety of combinations and wrapping everything we own in small white, and large black, bags. This day was different though, because we were going into Belgium.
The sun'll come out in Belgium, bet your bottom dollar that in Belgium, the sun will shine.
It's a beautiful day, in Belgium, it may be raining everywhere but Belgium, but that's just fine.
So we crossed the border into real sunshine. This was not the only difference, however, as the roads immediately deteriorated simultaneously. The trip along the Meuse remained beautiful however, with the green hills dropping straight into the river. The wind had picked up a little and, with the poorly-maintained roadway, served to slow us down a touch, but we didn't mind 'cause of the genuine warm weather. The first major place we reached was Dinant, which was absolutely gorgeous. Due to only having a map of France, and the overlap into Belgium running out just before Namur (Namen), we had set ourselves a fairly low target. This was more than justified, however, as we needed to do some serious research into how possible cycling around Belgium would be.
After Dinant, we passed through Anhee and Profondville. We couldn't get anything to eat because (like the French the day before) the Belgians were having a public holiday. Standard rule applies: if you want something, everything will be shut. We got into Namur in good time and treated ourselves to (cheap) Falafel from a snack bar. It was amazing! One of those foods we've missed for months, and served with loads of salad and mayonnaise. Yum! Oh, Namur was a pretty nice town too, with lots of little restaurants and pedestrianised areas. The Belgians have a strange approach to cyclists, which was partly revealed in the fact that bikes can go the "wrong way" down most one-way streets.
We then climbed (apparently Belgium does have hills) out of Namur, to Rhisnes. This was the last place we had internet, but we had no chance to blog, due to the pressing necessity to find out as much about Belgium, her road system, weather and campsites as possible before going "off the map."
Obviously, everything in Rhisnes was shut, so we ate some left-over bread and a bit of chocolate. Thank God for our delicious lunch.
A couple of things of note that we spotted along the way:
A bread vending machine - we've seen one of these before, in a French town where there's no boulangerie. Absolutely brilliant. We've also seen a vending machine for flowers.
A swimming pool made from a large cargo boat - it was dug into the ground, but kept all of its boatness. Incroyable.
We passed the 600 miles mark..
T+19 - Givet to Rhisnes (outside Namur) - 37.65 miles
After the maintenance at the campsite, the rest of the morning/early afternoon was spent climbing into the clouds of the Peak District. This was tiring and unnecessarily hard work. However, once we'd got past Leek it all got a bit easier. We had some lunch at a Tesco in Macclesfield and simply rode back through Stockport to Manchester. There we stopped at The Didsbury pub for a celebratory pint of cider and tried to make some sense of the epic journey we'd just completed. To be honest, it's a bit difficult to understand or quantify. You spend each day just trying to deal with the distance, navigational issues, bike maintenance, prevailing (shit) weather and complete absence of campsites that you fail to comprehend exactly how far you've gone. Sitting outside the pub was all a bit strange, as is the thought that we don't have to cycle any more. It will probably take a while to sink in.
