Well, the 1600 mile journey to Gibraltar to raise money for
Great Ormond Street has begun. We set off from Twickenham early this morning
with the van packed expertly by Steve. Johanna (Peter’s wife) followed us to
Great Ormond Street with Peter and the third bike as we couldn’t fit them all in
the back of the van. We parked close by the hospital and set the bikes up ready
for the 84 mile ride to Euro Tunnel in Folkestone. We mounted our trusted steeds,
ready to break records and raise more money for a great cause. We set off and
Foz broke the first record, the shortest distance travelled on a bike before it
broke a chain (1.2cm). It was a brand new SRAM chain (bought off ebay!).
With a quick pit stop and a new chain (another ebay special)
we pedalled to the main entrance to Great Ormond Street and took this picture:
Due to the unforeseen maintenance issue, we set off 45
minutes late through the streets of London cycling past the wonderful sights of
this great capital such as Trafalgar Square, The Houses of Parliament etc.
During the journey we had a few ‘Garmin surprises’ with a
few detours across parks and other unusual back roads when hit the lovely Kent
countryside. The ‘Garmin Surprise’ will become a recurring theme as make our
progress to Gibraltar. We then settled into a reasonable pace and stopped at Otford
for light refreshments.
We again set off through the back lanes and took in the
stunning scenery which must rate as the best in the world. By cutting the time spent at our planned stops, we managed
to arrive at the Chunnel on time and in good spirits and fairly fresh.Booked into the Euro Tunnel and went to the refreshment
facility which was pretty grotty and not value for money.
We arrived in France and went straight to the hotel Le
Transat Bleu, booked in and later on went for an Italian meal with Italian wine.
As a foot note, we must thank Graham from M & G motors for the free loan of the van and Bob Gould for arranging it, without it the trip may
have not happened.
The Fozball team
Ps Apologies for the late publication of this exciting blog, this was due to technical difficulties......
Please help us support Great Ormond Street Hospital
Please help us support Great Ormond Street Hospital
No comments:
Post a Comment