Day 5: Bridport

Ok, well, so much for a day a day!

Day 5 was a well earned rest day, and a chance to explore the lovely town of Bridport in Dorset!

All our bikes had taken a bit of a bashing with the weather and hills, and Jason at Bspoke bikes on the High Street, saved our bacon when another bike shop let us down last minute about doing the repairs and tune ups! Not generally a fan of endorsing things, but here I will! If you're in Bridport and need your bike fixed, or you want to hire a bike, go visit them! www.bspokeonline.co.uk

We did exciting things like laundry, and spent hours in the local coffee shop planning routes and camp sites for the rest of the journey.

We were joined by Oscar's parents, Trees and Kym who offered some moral support and chipped in for a rather fabulous BBQ - which took place to musical accompaniment!

I also managed to hook up with a local SGI Buddhist member, which meant I could go and chant in someone's house, instead of hiding in the van or as I went along on my bike! Maybe at some point I'll do a blog about my Buddhist faith, but not here! If you want to find out more, take a look at: www.sgi-uk.org

Will do some more updates as soon as I get a second! x

Day 4: Swanage to Bridport

So, here we go, on the long long over due posts! Want to get these out before I forget! :o)

Day 4 actually saw the wind let up - a welcome relief after having faced strong head-winds for 3 days straight...

A very hilly start to the day, with some of the most spectacular scenery of the whole trip around Corfe Castle and the Thomas Hardy Monument.

The group of cyclists split into 3 today, but all managed to arrive at camp within half an hour of each other, having taken slightly different routes.

My group (I'll have to check the pictures to remember who that was...Bex, Ob, Chris, Mike...?) had lunch in a nice little park in Dorchester, and then got very confused trying to find the cycle path out of town! Went through the strangest new build town and then onto country roads...

The road to the Hardy Monument was (at a guess) the biggest/longest climb we did on the whole trip...I remember spotting the monument from a distance and thinking 'I hope we're not going up there'... d'oh! Every time we rounded a corner there was another climb! (and once a dead badger) The views from the top were pretty spectacular, and the road going down the other side was well worth it. Poor Chris over shot the turning - getting to enjoy a great down hill run, before realising he had to turn around and come all the way back up...just as it started to rain AGAIN!

NCN Route 2 did us proud, with some beautiful winding roads going through a valley, which meant that having done the climb of our lives (Chris twice), most of the rest of the afternoon was down-hill with barely a car in sight!

Oscar joined the support group for a lot of today, as the big hills proved too much for the, (not as great as hoped) 'hand bike', and towing was just too dangerous.

Found a quiet little camp site in West Bay (near Bridport) to call home for two nights, and most of the gang ventured to the local pub for a well deserved pint!

Getting up to date...!

Hello! This is Kate again here - Thank you to the very VERY wonderful Henri Fawcett who was updating the blog while we were on the road, as well as looking after us all so well. We quite honestly couldn't have done it without the support vechicle!

We're now all home, safe and sound, if not a little tired and achy!

Updating the blog (as you will have noticed) was rather difficult while we were away, due to lack of internet connection/battery power/internet cafe's etc etc...

I will post days 4 to 10 as soon as I can, as I'm sure you're all dying to know what we got up to! :o)

As you have probably gathered, WE MADE IT! 340miles completed, and we arrived at Land's End as one big happy group in glorious sunshine - what a treat!

Watch this space! x

Day 3: White Cliffs of Dorset

Despite yesterday’s dramas everyone was in surprisingly high spirits this morning. The route today was a little shorter and (hopefully) simpler, about a third of which took our hardy travellers along the Bournemouth cliffs. We’re camping at the Star and Compass pub in Swanage this evening, which I’m sure will help to encourage a fast reach to the finish today!

Today went like absolute clockwork, the entire team finished the whole thing, and at the final sprint home Roti and Oscar destroyed a ridiculous hill in Swanage with the help of a tow-rope and the sheer brute force which you can only expect from these boys. Ridiculous.

We laid our weary heads in amongst the Star and Compass chickens, overlooking the stunning Dorset coastline, entirely knackered, satisfied, and excited.

Day 2: Into the Wild

An early start for everyone today, except Ob who had to find someone to repair a wheel. A huge thanks a MILLION to City Cycles in Chichester, who on seeing Obs cute little face and hearing his story, did the repairs for free!

Today it was the rain that was against the cyclists, in a big way. I’m talking heavy, sideways, zero visibility epic rain towards the end of the day. The coastline between Portsmouth and Southampton can be bleak at the best of times, but after the first day’s success the team took to the high seas with high spirits. Today’s route had three ferry journeys, meaning a couple of ambitious time constraints. Although the route was fairly straightforward, the insane weather that came in later in the day made things worse. We were hard pressed to cross each ferry before the final one closed, and by the time the last of the team arrived in Hythe, the weather was at it’s worst and totally unsafe to continue in. The van met Oscar just outside Portsmouth, and went on.

Finding a decent campsite also became an issue, as the route had to be shortened and neither time nor weather was on our side. The Pushers took refuge in a warm pub in Hythe while camp was set up, but the difficult day had taken it’s toll on everyone.

Day 1: Set Sail...

After an excited send off at Brighton Pier, to the sound of our very own tartan-clad bagpiper, the group set off as one into the sun. Progress was steady for the first half of the day as the team began to work out a good pace, and all the cyclists met for lunch on Sussex’s windiest beach, Littlehampton. I tell you, today it was all about the wind.

The shore wind forced a few Pushers inland, and subsequently off the planned route, so we had a little more time than expected to set up a warm welcome at Old School House in Itchenor for the first night before everyone arrived. Cyclists started trickling in at about 6, to a full on feast put on by the fabulous Mrs. Fawcett, hot showers and even a warm bed space for everyone. Somewhere in Birdham (only 2 miles from home) Sam, Roti and Chris, with the best of intentions, fell for the old “ask a local for directions” trick, but they made it home eventually!

Oscar’s hand-cycle (which I’m calling ‘the Steed’) gets up to about five or six miles an hour on average. We’ve come to realise that this may mean that he can’t complete every day of the ride, especially when time constraints or conditions are against us. After a three or four mile accidental detour at around five in the afternoon, Oscar and the Steed decided to call it a day and were picked up about six miles from home late afternoon.

The Support Van Diaries

A brief and wholehearted apology to start off with: we’ve been so carried away in the madness of this trip that keeping you guys updated has been difficult. As everything has calmed down now I’ve found a quiet moment in the corner of a seaside café in Swanage, and will upload all our blogs from the previous days’ adventures… enjoy!