The gang's all here!
Cyclists and crew, photographed at the Parc du Champs de Mars, having completed the London to Paris challenge on Sunday 28th June. I’m back row second from right. Photograph, courtesy of Classic Tours, arrived the other day together with the Challenge certificate:
Day Three (Sunday 28th June): Gournay-en-Bray to Paris
The day started with the promised 5:30am alarm call, another good breakfast, slap on the sunscreen and retrieve the bike from the bike store. It was a cool morning and the sun was shining - a good start to the final day of cycling.
Check your bike...
Day Two (Sat 27th June): Dieppe to Gournay-en-Bray.
A later start time of 10.00am was much appreciated especially as four of us had shared a room with no aircon and a very small window. Not the most comfortable of nights any of us had spent!
A good breakfast was enjoyed in the Hotel Windsor dining room with sweeping views of the Dieppe sea front between the limestone cliffs.
Getting ready for the start outside the Hotel Windsor. My bike, with yellow seat pack, centre foreground.
Luckily there was very little traffic about so one was let gently into the first experience of cycling on the right hand side of the road. First stop was just outside town at a sizeable bike shop to pick up any replacement bits and pieces. (more…)
The London to Paris Cycle Challenge began with the drive down to Bexley for the overnight stay at the Holiday Inn; from here the ride started at 7:00am on Friday 26th June.
Day One (Friday 26th June): London Bexley to Dover.
Early alarm call
The day dawned overcast and by the time we were on the road rain had begun to fall. The weather forecast was not in the least encouraging, suggesting that southern England and northern France would experience rain and thunderstorms for the next few days. Not a great prospect for pleasant and enjoyable cycle ride.
The route, excellently waymarked by the Classic Tours team with large black arrows on dayglo yellow (unmissable you’d think, more of that later), lay through Longfield to Meopham. From there we swung up through Cobham to cross the Medway at Rochester, thence south to Wouldham and Burham to join Pilgrims Way. (more…)
With only seven days remaining before the start from Bexley here’s the itinerary for the London to Paris ride 26th - 29th June:
FRIDAY 26th JUNE
Holiday Inn, Bexley - south east London
6:00am Breakfast
6:30am Registration
7:30am Ride starts
ROUTE 70 miles approx.
Bexley to Rochester
Along the Pilgrims’ Way through Burham and Lydden to Dover (more…)
Saturday 9th May saw a trip to London to meet up with other cyclists undertaking the London-Paris Open Bike Ride Challenge 26 - 29 June and to hear details of the route and general arrangements from organisers Classic Tours.
The original route was to have started in London, taking us south to Newhaven and thence by ferry to Dieppe. Changes to the ferry company’s sailing times necessitated a switch to the Dover-Calais crossing. So we’ll be starting from Bexley Heath (breakfast at 6:00am!) and heading out to Rochester, on along the edge of the North Downs and over the old Pilgrims’ Way down to Lydden and Dover for the evening sailing. That’s a few miles further than the London to Newhaven route!
From Calais we transfer by coach down the coast to Dieppe. (more…)
…in aid of The Little Sisters of the Poor, St. Joseph’s Home, Harborne, Birmingham.
For nearly 135 years the Little Sisters of the Poor have ministered to the aged and infirm at their voluntary aided convent and residential home in Harborne. Now in these times of economic stress they need our help more than ever. In order to maintain and improve standards no organisation can be complacent and St Joseph’s is no exception. To this end they need to raise funds for a new lift and security system.
I have agreed to act as the focus of this fund raising effort by undertaking the London to Paris Cycle Challenge over three days in the summer of 2009.
This challenge will be my first long ride and my first abroad since taking up cycling (after a gap of 40 years!) to regain fitness following cancer surgery three years ago. At the age of sixty-one this commitment will require many miles of training to develop stamina, speed and the ability to meet time targets – no good arriving late for the ferry to France!
Setting out on a training ride from St. Joseph's Home. Photographer: David Busst.