Incredible human beings. Well done everyone. Still can't quite process how intense the last week has been! Serious amounts of ibuprofen and willpower got us through!
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A series of photos showing fresh-faced week 3's becoming ever more dishevelled. This week has been huge in every respect: there have been tears, laughter, great tan/burn lines, never-ending uphills, alpine lakes to swim in, wild flowers, generous hosts, zombie-like-mass-tiredness, hysteria, singing, immense amounts of teamwork, support and challenging cycling. Everyone has done amazingly, today they've arrived in our accommodation in Genoa, feeling deservedly shattered and amazing. Well done everyone!
We haven't done a post in a little while, it's safe to say there hasn't been much rest time! Here's some snaps of the rest of last week, Paris-Lyon, that make a start of summing up our rain-filled journey! A general theme of week 2 was rain, endurance and unpredictable accommodation... We stayed with Doris and Karim who were kind enough to let us stay in their beautiful house for the night, with ensuite stream to wash in. A rare glimpse of sun was pretty much the most welcome thing ever. We then stayed in a Muslim centre for the night with an amazing host Jean-Phillippe. And finally a barn owned by a guy who seems addicted to playing trance music, every night was a solo party for him. Safely tucked away from the trance party, we all tucked up in the barn, falling asleep to a film on the projector and listening to the rain doing its thing outside, trying not to think about cycling through it the next day. The positivity everyone threw at this week was amazing, so much respect to every person that joined us, the week took a lot more commitment and endurance than anyone expected!
We woke up in our beautiful camping spot in the forest of Fontaineblue completely unsuspecting of how tough today would be. Having checked the weather forecasts (thunderstorms tomorrow) we decided to cycle as far as possible today so took on 85 miles, with the last third in the rain! Everyone did really well, pushing past the desire to collapse/book a hotel room/buy a moped. The van team did an incredible job of finding Martin who runs a donkey sanctuary. Martin showed us his mind-bogglingly-beautiful house that he built for himself and plied us with cheese and home-made wine, and most importantly, had a fire that we could de-thaw ourselves by before heading to our tents.
Our newbies for week two all fresh faced and ready for a cycle, doing morning stretches next to our house in Paris. Au revoir Paris! Wild camping who-knows-where tonight :)
Oh HELLO Paris! Well done Hanna Thomas Faye Olivia Josh Solnick Joe Bourdillon-Schicker Oli K-h Christopher Lemka Joe Reid It has been a wonderful and challenging week, and everyone has done amazingly. We've been powering through a changing landscape, now full of bright yellow rapeseed and staring cows, our arms taking a battering from the sun, maps deleting themselves and landing on unsuspecting hosts who mowed us a space to camp on. For me, the highlight of this week has been the people, our group and the people we've met along the way, in particular Ellen Murial who gave a really insightful talk about her experience over the last 6 months volunteering in Lesvos and Idomeni, and also Manu who hosted us for our first night in France with unending genoristy and cider, who's cider farm is open for refugees to come and stay in. Wonderful humans all through this journey! Two night rest in Paris and then on and on!
Had an incredible few days filled with many, many miles of thigh testing cycling. Highlights: roads lined with bluebells, Laughton Lodge's wonderful hospitality and a talk on life voluntering in Lesvos, sunrise mist-filled cycle to the ferry, sunny fields of rapeseed in France, an evening of French music and food from our lovely cider making host Manu, and most importantly, VERY nearly at our target of £20,000!
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