Sunday 14 October 2012
Another Ride Blog
August to September 2012 I did another great adventure bicycle ride Peterhof (St Petersburg, Russia) to Istanbul (Turkey) - 2596 miles. You can read my bicycle blog here>>
Sunday 29 May 2011
Sponsorship - nearly there
While I was riding, I kept thinking: nearly there. Now I’m thinking the same thing about my sponsorship. I have now raised £2877.70 – 91% of the total. I only have £272.30 to go.
Nearly there :-)
Nearly there :-)
Mileage
Meant to put this in the earlier post. Now done 591 miles. Not sure how many still have to do. Some days are longer than expected. Today was 70 miles when on paper it was 60 miles. On paper it's around another 350.
An amazing b and b
Spent the last night in an amazing b and b Primrose Cottage in Church Minshull. Fantastic attention to detail and a lovely warm welcome. Outstanding.
Blackburn, Bolton and Northwich
Today's issue was navigation. How to avoid Manchester, get through these big towns and avoid motorways. Blackburn wasn't too bad but Bolton was very scary. Ended up on the A666 with slip roads and very fast traffic. Scary. Tried to make myself as big as possible! Got out of Bolton and then ended up going round on circles trying to find my route. Phoned John for support and sympathy. After that managed to find someone who could accurately describe to me what I needed to do. On for some more miles and stopped for a coffee. When the staff found out what I was doing they woulnt let me pay and made a huge fuss of me. So fortified with coffee and their good wishes I set out again. Some more miles and I stopped at a garage for some chocolate. The mechanic was a keen cyclist and so offered me coffee and a seat and a sketch map to help me on my way. Fortified again I eventually arrived at a great b and b on Church Minshull.
Today I did almost 70 miles. It felt like a recovery day for my body as many fewer hills and much less wind. Less rain too.
Today I did almost 70 miles. It felt like a recovery day for my body as many fewer hills and much less wind. Less rain too.
Wednesday 18 May 2011
It feels very unreal to be home. I know I’ve been away for a couple of weeks but somehow I can’t really believe that in that time cycled around 940 miles and had head winds for twelve and a half of the sixteen days.
My welcome was brilliant. I didn’t want to get to Lands End till at least 5 pm so that people could get from work, so I stopped at my friend Mike’s house in Camborne and had coffee and malt loaf with him.
John, my partner, arrived on his bike and we biked back to our house. Bizarrely we live at Long Rock which is a common part of the route used by end to enders. It was quite windy although nothing like what I experienced in Scotland and the north, but John let me go in front so I could say I did it all on my own.
I cried when I got to our house – I wanted to stop, not cycle the extra 11 or so miles up hill to Land’s End. My hand and ribs were hurting badly from the fall three days ago. I felt exhausted. John hugged me and encouraged me to go on. So I cycled on while John went to get the car so that he could bring me and the bike back from Land’s End. Soon I met up with John and Kay, who were on their bikes and gave me an escort to Land’s End. Diane and Bob were on the road near Penzance harbour – they waved and shouted encouragement before they got in their car to go to meet me at Land’s End.
As we started to climb out of Penzance I felt so tired, but suddenly all the pain and tiredness disappeared and I just felt I was flying like the wind. An amazing feeling. John kept stopping in the car and taking pictures. At one point he held up a sign saying “Jane rocks”.
I arrived at Land’s End to be greeting by a grinning crowd of friends – now as well as John, Diane and Bob, Kay and John, there was Miki and Justin, Helen, Matt and Terry and then Joy and Colin and their three small children appeared. Miki had brought some of my favourite sparkling wine and we drank that and I felt totally giddy and delirious – drunk on happiness.
I had an official photo taken at Land’s End and will get that in a few days.
In the mean time here are some pics and videos of me taken by John.
I have so many wonderful memories from this trip. I found so much kindness and generosity of spirit from family, friends, b & b owners and total strangers.
People keep saying: what next? But I’ve told John to nail my mouth to the floor if I start talking about doing something else. The ride was far more difficult than I anticpated because of the very strong winds, but all the more satisfying for that.
I came back to some cheques for Peace Direct – I now have an extra £145 and so have raised £2430; I’ve still got a bit to go, but I hope to be able to raise it all for such a worthwhile charity.
I am very fortunate – I live in a country where being a woman doesn’t stop me riding a bike or going away on my own; I live in a country where I need to set myself challenges, unlike many people who live in poverty or war-torn countries where the act of day-to-day living is a major challenge. I am fortunate in my family and friends.
Thank you all.
My welcome was brilliant. I didn’t want to get to Lands End till at least 5 pm so that people could get from work, so I stopped at my friend Mike’s house in Camborne and had coffee and malt loaf with him.
John, my partner, arrived on his bike and we biked back to our house. Bizarrely we live at Long Rock which is a common part of the route used by end to enders. It was quite windy although nothing like what I experienced in Scotland and the north, but John let me go in front so I could say I did it all on my own.
I cried when I got to our house – I wanted to stop, not cycle the extra 11 or so miles up hill to Land’s End. My hand and ribs were hurting badly from the fall three days ago. I felt exhausted. John hugged me and encouraged me to go on. So I cycled on while John went to get the car so that he could bring me and the bike back from Land’s End. Soon I met up with John and Kay, who were on their bikes and gave me an escort to Land’s End. Diane and Bob were on the road near Penzance harbour – they waved and shouted encouragement before they got in their car to go to meet me at Land’s End.
As we started to climb out of Penzance I felt so tired, but suddenly all the pain and tiredness disappeared and I just felt I was flying like the wind. An amazing feeling. John kept stopping in the car and taking pictures. At one point he held up a sign saying “Jane rocks”.
I arrived at Land’s End to be greeting by a grinning crowd of friends – now as well as John, Diane and Bob, Kay and John, there was Miki and Justin, Helen, Matt and Terry and then Joy and Colin and their three small children appeared. Miki had brought some of my favourite sparkling wine and we drank that and I felt totally giddy and delirious – drunk on happiness.
I had an official photo taken at Land’s End and will get that in a few days.
In the mean time here are some pics and videos of me taken by John.
I have so many wonderful memories from this trip. I found so much kindness and generosity of spirit from family, friends, b & b owners and total strangers.
People keep saying: what next? But I’ve told John to nail my mouth to the floor if I start talking about doing something else. The ride was far more difficult than I anticpated because of the very strong winds, but all the more satisfying for that.
I came back to some cheques for Peace Direct – I now have an extra £145 and so have raised £2430; I’ve still got a bit to go, but I hope to be able to raise it all for such a worthwhile charity.
I am very fortunate – I live in a country where being a woman doesn’t stop me riding a bike or going away on my own; I live in a country where I need to set myself challenges, unlike many people who live in poverty or war-torn countries where the act of day-to-day living is a major challenge. I am fortunate in my family and friends.
Thank you all.
Tuesday 17 May 2011
I've done it
I've finished. Got a great welcome from John and my friends. An amazing experience. Now I can feel how tired I am so this blog is just these few lines. More tomorrow.
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