Day 22 - Free ferries? free museums? so that's what they pay so much tax for

We hung around waiting for the hostel reception guy to show up and when he did he told us the bike shop was open but not until 11. Good news, slightly worse news, it was about 7km out of town. We wheedled off and got superbly lost in the old part of Karlskrona, we just couldn't find the road out.

Sylv was cycling on her flat tyre and was getting frustrated, we stopped to look at the map again and to check her tyre. She spotted the problem the inner tube blow out had ripped part of her tyre and the wires inside were showing, oh this was worse than we thought. It was 11 by now so I called the bike shop to check that they would have a tyre and could fit it that day. Unasigned number flashed up on the phone, I tried again and again but to no avail. In our lostness we had spotted another bike shop that promised to be open the next day from 10. As our hands and feet started to freeze again and the grey clouds rolled in, we wound back through the town to the hostel. Any room I asked to the smiling receptionist, of course you are so welcome he replied. He had just finished telling all thr other other hostel staff about our trip.

So we had a free day in a very beautiful town, lucky us. We warmed up and put on our lounge clothes, made a packed lunch and hit the streets. There was a free ferry to be caught.

Hey said some familiar voices, Frances and Jannes joined us on the ferry crossing. We got to Aspö and spent a lovely hour (in the pouring rain) walking around and looking at the beautiful summer houses and the swimming spot. Then after our sandwhiches went back to the mainland where we said our final goodbyes to our German friends.

                                                        Once again, looking a bit mental...
They'd tipped us off that the marine museum was a great place and as I had now realised I have a slight obsession with all things nautical we went along. It was great, really good displays and interesting information, finished off with a lovely hot chocolate. Uber nice.

We headed home and had a relaxing sunday dinner.

Miles - about 3

Day 21 - Let downs and blow outs

I left our lovely cabin with a heavy heart thought grateful that I wasnt map reading today. We had a long way to go and route was winding to avoid the E22 highway. However, we had a beautiful ride following the coast through stunning woodland and passing small summer house villages. Although the rain had stopped the air was thick and there was no sign of the sun all day. But as we bumbled along we imagined how amazing this landscape must look during summer.

After an early lunch courtesy of Lidl (took me back to my Bedminster days - are all Lidls EXACTLY the same  no-matter where you are in the world?) we pressed on, this time on a more major road with less exciting scenery. The stupid road was wold-esque and as I came to the top of a hill I had that old familiar and very unwelcome feeling....the rear puncture. I wobbled to a standstill and called to Hana to stop. Well, the 40quid Danish wonder tyre didnt cut it for long did it? We chaged the tube and I picked out two minute  pieces of glass which had created quite a big gash in the tyre - how could this be!? Once the tyre was inlfated we noticed it was bulging near the valve and spent a while trying to rectify it before giving up as the bulge wouldn't budge.We were about 10kms from Karlskrona and thought we'd make it despite the bulge.

50m down the road and BANG! Whoops, a blow out. Perhaps we should've been more patient. We phoned our bycicle advice hotline, my very good friend Matthew Mountford who had kindly said we could call him anytime. He provided sound advice delivered in his ever cool calm and collected manner - thanks Matti! However, despite his advice and our efforts to follow it something still wasnt quite right. The tube was a bit better but there was still a bulge.

We plodded in to Karlskrona and miraculously found our hostel with ease, our first question to the chap at reception being, 'Is there a bike shop here?' He wasnt sure it would be open tomorrow (Sunday) but promised to find out and let us know in the morning. So we began a bit of a waiting game. Karlskrona is quite a big town but I had my suspicions about the shop being open on a Sunday. Think positive Sylvie, come on now.

As we made dinner we met Frances and Jannes from Germany. Frances in training as a pedagog at a Montessouri school in Lund and Jannes had come to visit her for the weekend so they'd come to Karlskrona for a little holiday by the sea. They were both really lovely and told us how they'd met working at a Camp Hill Community in N. Ireland - cool! Frances told us that tomorrow they'd be getting a free ferry to one of the many many nearby islands. Maybe we could too if the bike shop isn't open. Now wouldn't that be nice?

Day 20 - The land of make believe

So here I am in Sweden, one of the lands of my childhood dreams. The country where Pippi Longstocking roamed with her friends Tommy and Annika and her monkey Mr Nelson, where the children of Bullerby lived (in my eyes) the most wonderful life and the country that Carl Larsson portrayed in so much detail in his incredible books about his family and farm. I can't quite beleive I am here. Happy days indeed.

We breakfasted overlooking the lake (get us) and commented to each other on how windy it looked, oh we thought we'd left the wind behind.

Outside it was freezing and the wind was right up, but hey hey what's this, it was only our first tail wind of the whole trip and soon we were whizzing along at 18 mph, speeds we hadn't reached since Holland. Nice going, I thought. We were headed for Kristinstad to check out the tourist office.

As we whipped along through the icey sleet it was hard not to smile, we're in Sweden, we're in Sweden. As the sleet slowed for a bit and the sun came out a huge rainbow appeared to our left and what with the wind and the small barns dotted all over the place I was convinced that any minute now I would see Dorothy and Toto skipping through the fields (yes I know they were from Kansas, but it just felt like that).

All aorund us there were trees, they were mainly Beech and were the most fantastic vivid colours, it was glorious to cycle through.

We reached Kristianstad and marched into the tourist shop armed with our maps and a zillion questions. The woman in there was very helpful and after spending an hour or so looking at hostels in the worlds darkest dankest internet cafe we left Kristianstad with renewed vigour.

Our end of day destination was Sölvesborg and we reached there just before it got dark. We had been given the name of a hostel but as we were cycling in to the town we spotted a campsite that we thought we'd check out and oh boy were we glad we did. Sylvie spotted some little huts and was hooked, you ain't never seen a happier girl so I shall let her tell you about our night there.........

Now this is what I've been waiting for. All my life! I asked Thorleif the campsite owner what the name of our cabin, Göken, meant, 'It's a bird we have, cuck-oo, cuck-oo,' he said making the sound. 'Oh, I said ' we call it a Cuckoo!' at which he roared with laughter (anyone called Thorleif should certainly roar when laughing) and continued to mimick the Göken.We settled in to our beautiful, tiny but perfectly formed Göken, we cranked the heaters up, erected a drying line for our socks and put the pan o' water on for constant stream of tea.

There is nothing I like more than staying in tiny places. I dream of Romany caravans, enjoyed one of the best holidays ever on narrow boat and marvel at small yachts (although I would'nt want to go on a yacht - the sea, like lakes, is quite scary). I really want to live in a tiny flat one day. So this little cabin really was my idea of heaven and especially as sursprise surprise, it was raining again. The cabin had everything we needed: little beds, little chairs, a little table, hooks for our coats and a single hob to make our dinner - brilliant! Why do we all clatter around in big houses? We reveled in our surroundings and played ludo and mini cards all evening. Let's hope there'll be a few more Gökens along the way...

                                                                      How cute is this?
I told you she was happy, if anyone has any spare wooden sheds going, I think you can safely say Sylvie will purchase it from you.

I also just have to say that Sweden may also be Mrs West's (aka Jodie's mum) dream country, you aren't anyone here unless you are driving a huge Volvo estate and that is just what Mrs West likes. When aged 14  Jodie, Helena, Tamara and I used to go to football club in Crediton, Mrs West would turn up to collect us in her huge burgandy Volvo estate with Rod Stewart blaring out of the speakers and call 'Sweetie' time to go home. She knew just how to embarass us. She has now moved on to a new model of Volvo and I am now more appreciative of the old Volvo estates, in fact I think I'd rather like one!

Day 19 - 'I thought you packed the snow chains' (Dumb & Dumber on tour in Sweden)

We'd decided yesterday that if the weather was good (not raining) today we'd better get moving. We would've loved to have stayed longer in Copenhagen but as we were both feeling fairly well rested (despite our mystery snoring roomie) there was no excuse - we had to hit the road again. OK, not the road at first but the tracks. This time, we were getting the train out of neccessity rather than desperation.

The sky was ble when we woke and stayed that way for a few hours. We'd stayed on the island of Amager in Copenhagen - a little  out of the city but on the main line for trains to Sweden. The tain crosses the amazing (I've seen the pictures) Oresund bridge but it was actually a pretty disappointing journey; tha train was uber crowded and at no point did we ctch a glimpse of the bridge - awwwwww! Oh well, I'm soooo grateful you're not allowed to cycle over it, Hana would've made me and I don't think I could've coped after the trauma of the Afsluitdijk in Holland!

Instead of the first Swedish stop Malmö, we got off at Lund, the next town. It was only another 15minutes on the train and without a detailed map of Malmö we didn't fance our chances trying to get out of the city. We stocked up on Swedish Krona and hit the road in search of Hörby. By this stage, the blue sky had long since disappeared and as the icy rain battered us we were heckled by Swedish workmen no doubt wondering what on earth we were doing...Despite the chill in the air we were feeling so excited to finally have got to Sweden our destination country as last. Already the landscape and surroundings felt different. The Swedish flags were flying outside all the country houses and suddenly there were trees - millions of them, in the most beautiful autumn shades.

Along the way people have been commenting on the weather and questioning our desire to camp and today we finally understood why. We'd got blasted earlier and on the train the conductor had explained they'd had snow 30kms away and here it was! We passed through a few small villages and by the side of the road and on the roofs of the houses was a thin yet very noticeable layer of snow - no way!!!! Joy of joys, at least we were on our way to hostel in Hörby - or so we thought.

                                                                   SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When we arrived in the town no one had heard of such hostel. It was after 5pm, getting darker and now utterly freezing. Hana asked as many people as possible but to no avail. So, our only option now in this tiny town was to head to the next village in search of the campsite. Whist Hana had been frantically trying to find the hostel I'd been waiting with the bikes in the square gradually gettting colder and colder - my own fault, I hadnt imagined she would be so long so didn't bother to put more clothes on . As we cycled out of town to what felt like a far away village in the pitch black my hands and feet felt like they were about to drop off. 5kms later we found the camspite which turned out to be a hotel as well. Oooooh, the dilema - camping, hotel room, camping, hotel room. So, we spent the evening wrapped up in bathrobes feeling very much like Lloyd and Harry from Dumb & Dumber (don't knock it 'til you've seen it (at least 40 times)).

                                                                   Check out the luxury!
This whole episode of not finding the hostel put us in to a bit of a panic so we also spent the evening questioning the map and devising an alternative route for Sweden based on places to stay that actually exist - thanks for assistance via telephone Dad! Tomorrow we would make it to the next big town and hit the tourist office.

Miles today - 35

Day 18 - Cool runnings in Copenhagen

After a farewell breakfast with the lovely Maggie and Frida and lots of photos...........we set off for Copenhagen to go to a meeting!

                                           Bye bye lovely ladies - thanks for looking after us!
Our media consultants John and Marion Garrad had set up a meeting for us with the Scelrosis organisation in Denmark. So at 11.30 we were greeted by the very lovely Lotte who welcomed us in and showed us around. Lotte works as PR for the organisation and was really interested to hear our story.

Well, what a fantastic organisation they have here in Denmark. Having seen the wonderful centre they run in Haslev it was awesome to meet others within the charity. Lotte explained that anyone affected by MS can come to the office and see psycologists for help or ask any questions they may have. They had set up a website for kids of people with MS so that they can go online and talk to each other, this is facilitated by a doctor. They offer this service for adults also and have found it affective in getting men and boys to talk about their feelings.

We were joined by Irene who works in marketing and we had a delicious lunch together (from the amazing canteen). Irene asked us lots of questions and is keen to use us as a case study to promote fundraising in Denmark. She loved the idea of travelling from M to S.

We came away from the meeting feeling so happy, they had made us feel completley welcome and seemed genuinlly interested in what we are doing. We wish that the MS Society in the UK was this switched on.

                                                                 With Lotte at the office 

Late afternoon we headed to our hostel and managed to catch the last canal tour of the city which was great. Copenhagen looks like an awesome city and one to explore in the future for sure.

                                                                  Nyhavn in Copenhagen

                                                    Our favourite buildings on the tour!

Tomorrow we are off to Malmo and the start of the last leg of our journey.

Thanks so much for all you messages of support, we really do appreciate them and we feel confident we can make this last stint. Stockholm here we come.

Lots of love to you all, Hana and Sylvie xxxxx

Day 17 - Vacation in Viby!

Horray - we're still at Maggie's and we have the day off!

                                                                        Me and Frida
We did have a few things to do though....

• We walked Frida the dog (a sweet chocolate labrador) and on the way met Marianne, Maggie's neighbour and her dog. She took us through the woods which was beautiful - it was good to have a guide with us or we would've got lost!
• I picked some litle paradise apples (a bit like red crab apples) from the garden for Maggie to use later to make paradise apple jelly...mmmmmmm. She is going to write a book of chutney recipes one day - I think it may be a  best seller!
• We went to the shops in Viby (pronounced Vee-buuh) and marvelled at the selection of English goods on sale in the posh supermarket - HP sauce, Yorkshire Tea (I resisted as the box was enourmous and expensive), Walkers crisps, Marmite etc etc. The men working in the shop were laughing at me laughing at the display...We bought some food for the evening dinner and went to the most amazing charity shop and bought a pair of jeans each to wear in Copenhagen - pah!
• We also spent a considerable amount of time drinking tea, listening to Danish radio, and making curries for dinner and BLOGGING.
• Later on, Maggie's lovely daughter Lea and her boyfriend Michaelcame over and we all ate together (some choosing the left over lasagne over our veggie curry!). Lea and Michael are both techno-wizards and manged to sort out our stupid camera so we should hvae more photos from now on (can't upload any here though) - thanks you two!

A relaxing day in a beautiful spot with lovely lovely people.

4 miles in to Viby and back on our bikes!

Day 16 - Delightful Denmark

We left Gitte's cosy flat with a packed lunch she had made us and directions to the bike shop (to get Sylv's tyre sorted out once and for all) and to visit the troll (who carried a bag of sand accross Denmark but didn't realise there was a small whole in the bottom of it, the sand that fell out along the way created the undulating landscape).

With a brand new Danish tyre on Sylv's bike we set off to visit the sclerosis centre in Haslev. The receptionist welcomed us but said, oh you have come on the worst day possible, we have 42 new clints arriving today. Still 10 minutes later after a glass of juice we were being introduced to a nurse called Anders (who Sylvie was rather taken with......) who offered to show us around.

What an incredible place, meeting Gitte the previous day and then seeing this wonderful centre in action gave me some real strength after the last annoying days. The centre was beautiful, set in lovely grounds with nice spaces to be in. Anders explained that people with MS come from all over Denmark and usually stay between 14 days and a month although they are free to go when they want. They can come as many times as they want and there are different treatments available, they can see a specialist doctor, sit and talk with new friends or do activities like horse riding or swimming. There is a place called the castle where people who have been recently diagnosed (usually young people) can go for a week in a small group and just hang out together and share their experiences so far and ask questions if they have any.

It really was terrific and incredible to see such a place, another bonus was that the staff got to ride around the centre on scooters, excellent. We had our picture taken for their newsletter and bidding them all a fond farewell set off to Viby just south of Roskilde to spend the night with Maggie, a friend of Aunty Marion's.

There is someone waving at us Sylvie shouted to me through the wind, I could see her too, a small figure with a Danish flag was standing in the road waving frantically. We rode down to her and Maggie gave us a big hug each and took us inside. Maggie lives in a small commune with Eva, Flemming, Kirsten and Sophie and her dog Frida. They had a beautiful house and garden and all made us feel so welcome. We were pretty physically exhausted from the wind so decided straight away to stay 2 nights. We had forgotten to let Maggie know we are vegetarians so she had cooked us a meaty lasagne, but there were enough people around to eat and enjoy it and Sylv and I made some pasta and we all sat down together to eat with a glass of wine.

Everyone was so lovely and it was a great atmosphere to be in. We finished off the night with Maggie asking us to pick an Angel card..........mine was one to do with new and renewed energy, hurrah and Sylvie chose a card Maggie had never seen before about wisdom and listening to your dreams.

We settled happily into our bed ready for a whole day off.  What a super day.

Miles 35.

Day 15 - New friends in Næstred

Ohhh it's a bit chilly in here this morning I thought as I wriggled around in my damp slepping bag. I had to force the frozen zip of the tent open, 'Bloody hell - there's frost everywhere Hana!' The whole tent was totally forzen. Oh god, here we go, I thought today was going to be better...

Frosty tent!

After another tyre change (yep!) and a bit of slow start (we couldn't quite pull ourselves out of the warm kitchen) we pootled on in search of a town called Næstred. The ride was fine, mostly on cycle paths next to the main road and once the sun was fully up in the sky it was a lovely clear day. Denmark is pretty!

I got another puncture (is there something SERIOUSLY wring with my tyres?) really close to the town so we kept stopping to fill the tyre and eventually the valve fell off. Ugh. I cycled in to town on a flatty and we looked around pretty aimlessly for either a campsite or a hostel (the map said the town had both) but no luck.

Hana stopped a passing cyclist who was so lovely and quickly got on his phone to ring round and see if anyone knew of a campsite. In the meantime, another woman apporached us and seemed almost unable to beleive what she was reading on the back of our ever-chic hi-vis jackets. 'You're riding for MS? I have MS!' Her name was Gitte and after a quick chat about what we were doing she insisted we stayed at her appartment........YES! Thank you thank you thank you!

Us with the lovely Gitte!

Gitte and her beautiful collie Martel showed us to her amazing flat (she had studied hotel management and this was clear from her immaculate place!). We spent the evening chatting and eating pizza - bliss. Gitte told us about a MS centre in  nearby town called Haslev and suggested we visit tomorrow on our way to our next stop at Viby as it was on the way. The centre is run by the Danish equivalent to the MS Society, and offers all kinds of services to people with MS and their families. So, we looked at the map and realised it would definately be possible to swing by...

Finally, after a few days of annoying setbacks we felt our luck was beginning to change. Gitte (and Martel!) was so kind and the opportunity to meet her and find out about her experience of MS and the Danish approach was really facinating - I think the UK has a lot to learn.

Both looking slighty mad outside 'The Castle' - I think the sun was in our eyes...

About 50 miles today (Hana's mileometer has intermittently given up the ghost so it's appromimations from here on in!)

Day 14 - It all gets too much

Next morning we made a pretty speedy exit from the dodgy campsite, it was still pouring with rain and we were hungry and cold. Poor Sylvie had felt so sad the night before and we just wanted to get on.  We were once again on the road to Plon, I was really aching from my fall the previous day and my hand looked pretty freaky. The road to Plon split many different ways and we were frustrated that we were so low on luck. We had done only about 10km when we found a lovely bakery and as we were so cold we decided to stop for breakfast before Plon. The cafe and it's staff were lovely and we sat for a while and warmed up. We were able to look at our route again and choose a new way to Putgarden (the ferry port to Denmark) that would mean we wouldn't have to go  through Plon which now seemed to us a made up place. Slightly cheered we wrapped up warm and stepped outside. Sylvie's back tyre was flat again! We got on the case and made the change taking real care to check the tyre and rims. Cold again, we set off down the road and not 10 meters on her front tyre went down. It was now raining heavily and we were just completely miserable. It seemed everything was going wrong and we were getting unhappy.

We decided to head to a town called Eutin which was on the way to Putgarden and importantly was marked on the map with a palm tree, this place had to be good. As we neared the town I had to smile to myself, we had been cycling in driving rain yet right above this little town was a clearing in the sky and yes we could see blue, but it was only over this town. Maybe the palm tree meant it was always sunny?

I was really sore and aching by now from my fall and spotting a sign for the railway station I begged Sylvie to see if it would at least be possible to get a train to Putgarden. She finally agreed and we headed to the train station. The woman at the counter said that due to engineering works it would not be possible to take the train with our bikes as they were running a replacement bus service instead. I cried, I was so cold and low and I just wanted to get to the port and get on the ferry to Denmark. I couldn't beleive that even trying to get on a train was going wrong for us. As I sat down completely dejected on the cold radiator in the waiting room whilst Sylvie went to the loo, I looked at the buses going to Lubeck. I ran out to speak to the driver, could they take us? I could see there would be room for a bike or even 2, please could they take us? They smiled and said warmly that they would if we could be ready in 3 minutes sharp. I ran to get Sylvie and 3 minutes later we and our bikes were on the bus. Our failure gets worse I'm afraid, from Lubeck we were able to take a train to Putgarden. We did so and although we both felt really awful about it (we had so wanted to do this trip without getting on a train) it was completley the right thing to do. After 14 days on the road and with so many things going wrong over the past few days we were utterly exhausted. Sylvie slept the whole way and I just read my book-

As we sat on the ferry to Denmark, Sylvie just looked at me and said "we got the train" we were both gutted. We had only missed out 50 miles of our trip but it was still a missing stage.

But all things have a silver lining and as we sailed towards Denmark the rain cloud that had hung over Germany stayed there and we sailed under a perfect double rainbow (Richard of York gave battle in vain) to a sunny Denmark.

We pedalled off the ferry and stopped at the nearest garage to ask directions to the campsite and a shop. It was late so the supermarket was closed but the garage had a few supplies so we ended up spending 7 pounds (I'm writing this on a Danish keyboard so there is no pound sign!) on a box of cereal and a carton of milk, eeeek it's going to be expensive here.

A few miles up the road we found our campsite, complete with a beautiful kitchen. Boy were we happy and laughed at the irony that we literally only had pasta to cook in it. Still pasta with some nice olive oil, a bit of black pepper and garlic with a cucumber salad can be a very fine dinner when eaten in such nice surroundings. We finished off with a game of scrabble before we had a shower and went to bed.

We were ready to get back on our bikes........................................

Day 13 - And off to bed you shall go, without any supper!

Last night we'd more or less hopped straight in to bed (once again!) and had barely said goodnight to our new friend Manuel so we were pleased to see him  (he was first up for brekkie - us cyclists need our breakfast) and enjoyed another classic German feast. Manuel told us he was a naval architect and impressed us with lots of interesting facts about ships. Sounds as if he has a cool job and gets to travel to London and Copenhagen reguarly. After breakfast he was whizzing home to Hamburg, cycling the 120km by 2pm to meet his colleagues for a beer - not bad! Such a distance we could only hope for today...Still, we were feeling confident and felt that after a night in a hostel we should be ready for anything.
We were in search of the elusive town of Plon. Hardly anyone we spoke to had heard of it and after what felt like hours we still seemed to be nowhere near. There were signs, road signs and cycle way signs but each one seemed to say Plon was a different distance and half the time the next sign said it was further than the last - infuriating!
Mid-moring and as we followed one of the many pavement come cyclepath come someone's driveway Hana yelled from behind to, 'look out for the lady!'. As I swerved to just miss her and slammed on my brakes  Hana was forced to cycle in to the road to miss me and took a nasty fall as she too rammed on the brakes. The poor shocked woman helped Hana up as I wrestled with my panniers searching for the good old Rescue Remedy. Hana's hand was already really swollen, she'd landed on her shoulder and was in shock. Luckily there hadn't been any cars on the road. It was such a horrible situation as neither of us can speak German - we'd don't even know how to say sorry (entschuldigung!) so were both just repeating over and over how sorry we were in English. Although the lady hadn't been looking where she was going I was definately going too fast and too close to the entrance of her driveway. However, she was very kind and understanding, gave Hana a hug and gestured that we should slow down from now on and off she went. We peddled off slowly and a few miles later spotted a cafe where Hana was able to recover with a lovely hot chocolate - her perfect medicine.
We made it to the town of Neumunster and Hana bravely siad she thought she could make it to Plon. So we pressed on, in the now driving rain, and on and on and on. And still no Plon! The signs on the main road suddenly announced that bikes were not allowed and we were forced back on to the winding cycleways through the tiny sleepy villages. So near but yet so far. We decided our next best bet was for a village called Stocksee which, according to the map, had a campsite. Just as we made it to the village sign I realised I had a puncture. It was still raining, getting darker and at this point we weren't really sure how far the campsite was. Even with a sore hand Hana is still a master of the tyre change and helped me (I have extrememly limited patience when it comes to puctures!) as I struggled in the cold and wet.
It really was getting dark now but we saw signs for the campsite and asked a local lady the way. When we got there it looked closed. Very closed. Just as were busy groaning a man drove from inside the site, popped his head out of the car and confirmed that the site was closed and that tomorrow was the last official day of the season! No! Hana promtly announced that we were staying anyway and he didn't seem too bothered and drove off (I'm still not sure who he was!). Oh yeah, after telling us that we'd have to get to Plon to buy food as there wern't any shops open near here (bloody Plon!).
We hadn't managed to find a shop all afternoon and had run out of proper food so this was not good news. We found a spot, pitched the tent and investigated the showers. The least we could ask for was a hot shower...Hoorah - there were lights and the water was warm, even if the shower block itself was the scariest shower block ever. The campsite was desterted, we were camping there without anyone knowing, we hadn't paid AND we were next to lake...lakes are scary in the dark! I think I watched Friday 13th too many times as a teenager! As we went to sleep I shed a little tear...

I don't even know how many miles today and frankly don't care - today was rubbish!

Day 12 - Slow going

Under a beautiful blue sky we breakfasted and packed up our things, so the man had been wrong about the weather, it looked like being a lovely day. Onwards!

Your back tyre looks a bit flat said Sylvie as we went to set off, nope it can't be I replied that's my new industrial unimpenetrable super duper marathan shwalbe tyre. Sylvie poked it, it was flat! The man who had sold it to me said oooooo you're on to a good thing here if you get a puncture you'll be ruining my statistic of only 3 punctures in 3.5 years, well mr bike shop owner I have added you to the mental list of people who will be receiving a letter from me about the poor performance of their equipment (this is one of things I do whilst cycling along, compose imaginary letters to people!).

As we had a ferry to catch and only a short ride we left with me still not quite able to beleive I had a puncture in my back tyre.

After a lovely ferry ride  (I love ferries, probably because as a small child I got given a twix for helping the ferry man in Dartmouth clean the seats as we cruised along) accross the water to Bremerhaven we found a good spot and with me still muttering in disbelief fixed the puncture. Now we really were on our way..........

TWO HOURS LATER we found our way out of Bremerhaven! mental note to self, next time I do a trip through a city on a bike take a more detailed map of the city. We had been having a bit of trouble in all the towns we been through finding our way out of the otherside but this was insane! Every route we took ended up somewhere really obscure. Finally we stopped at a bike shop hoping they may know the nearby cycle routes, they didn't but did print us off some very detailed instructions, in German! Anyhoo they pointed us in the right direction and 2 minutes down the road we found a cycle route sign and follwed that instead.

The wind was up again,  it was cold and we didn't seem to be getting anywhere at all along the map. We struggled on until lunchtime, where we stopped in a little village where as had been the case the whole morning all the shops were shut, and the cafe, even though it was lunchtime! We were really low on meths (for the cooker, not us, we'd not slumped that low yet!) and Sylv spotted a hardware shop which promised to open at 1.30 so we jigged around for a bit to keep warm until the shop keeper returned from lunch. After trying to explain what we needed, we gave up and started sniffing bottles of various solvent like substances, Sylvie spotted a likely looking candidate and after the shop keeper had given it a good sniff we decided it would do.

He also gave us some very good directions and we cycled off a little happier. We had resigned ourself that due to our late start we would only be able to do half our planned journey that day, but when we reached Haemer our planned halfway point around 4, we decided to push on and try and make our second ferry crossing of the day.

We cracked it, we cycled like absolute demons (Sylvie was possible fueled by one final search for the perfect meths, stopping at a garden centre to see if they had exactly what we needed, she came rushing out 2 minutes later saying that she had taken a huge sniff of something toxic and her nose was burning! She was fine) and arrived at the ferry to take us to Gluckstad.

On the ferry we met Manuel, a German man coming back from a business trip, he was travelling on a recumbent bike, have you seen one? They are the bikes that are low to the ground and you have a seat with a back on it and you steer with your hands. They look kind of strange but fairly whizz along and he said they were great for long journeys. He was staying in the hostel in Gluckstad and as it was now almost dark and the rain was setting in we decided to stay there too, which meant we were about 12 miles shy of our actual destination Itzehoe.

The hostel was lovely and too exhausted to go out to eat we were pleased to see chips and salad on the in-house menu. We tucked in and after a few too many chips we went to up to bed.

                                                      Hana mending the recent punctures!
About 55 miles today and a super afternoon riding.

Day 11 - The beginnings of a series of unfortunate events...

Following our practically yearly quota of 4 beers each last night we didn't sleep too well - hearts palpitating - Thomas is far more hardcore than us leighweights! But the amazing all-you-can-eat style breakfast at the hostel was a brilliant start to the day (those of you who thought we'd be losing weight on this trip think again - at this rate it's not going to happen!) - what could possibly go wrong today?

Well not too much actúally but bear with us. Earlier this morning (it is at this precise point that I beleive our overall luck began to change...)  Hana spoke to the lady at the hostel about the ferry we were hoping to catch later on (to reach our planned destination of Bremmerhaven over the River Elba) and she'd assured us that the ferries were now only running in the mornings so we'd have to stay in Nordenham on this side of the river and catch the first ferry the following AM. Fair enough, it meant a shorter day and so far we hadn't had much luck trying to find a campsite in Bremmerhaven but there was one in Nordenham. We had a really good day's riding, enjoying the slight change in landscape, good signage all the way, good mapping from Hana, lots of friendly Germans along the way - great!

We arrived at the campsite at about 4pm and were kindly welcomed by the owner with a mixture of sign language, German and a sprinkling of English. He then went on to inform us, again with a kind of sign language, about tomorrow's weather finishing off his sign lanuage sentence by shouting, 'SHIT!!!!' and gesturing at the heavens! So, tomorrow there would be rain and lots of it apparently - bugger! The weather today has been lovely and not too cold and apart from our first few soggy days we've had hardly any rain - and I don't want any more...
60 miles today - good going yah!

Day 10 - Afscheid Netherlands, Guten Tag Deutschland

Come on Sylvie I said, more to pep myslef up than encourage her, it's another fairly short day today and off we went. We were well and truly in the heart of agricultural Holland, huge fields spread out before us as far as the eye could see and beyond. Following the map we litterally zig-zagged our was accross the flat land. It was to be honest slightly dull landscape, broken up only by huge beautiful red brick barns with very majestic houses attached to one end. The barns really were glorious, very low with lots of windows. The fields were busy with people working in tractors and by hand, passing one field we were cheered by a machine going along churning up the ground and spitting up onions into neat rows. Neat rows of carrots covered another huge field but potatoes were the king crop in the area, one processor practically declared it was making the world a better place by selling potatoes.

With the wind driving into us no matter which way we were cycling and 3 pages into our map book with another 6 to go I started grumbling to myself about the obvious lack of scale in the map book, we were supposed to be travelling the same distance as yesterday yet that had only be 5 pages in the book not 9, we seemed to be cycling backwards.......

We cycled on and as we finally Nieuweschans the Holland/Germany boarder town we began to get excited, a new country was approaching that neither of us had been too. Would there be flags and guards, could we get another stamp in our passports? No, the crossing into Germany was marked only by an increase in the number of German number plates and the smooth Dutch cycle paths turning to the knobbly bobbly brick roads, arrrrgggghhhh! 2 miles of being shaken around and my the screw on my bike rack popped out, it was getting late and we were tired but I couldn't cycle like this. We did a bodge job of fixing it with a cable tie (thanks for reminding us to take these Dan B) and hobbled on. Then just like that there was a little bike shack, we hadn't come accross a bike shop our entire journey and now here was one was, just when we needed it. The mechanic quickly put in a new screw and the gave the bike a once over, he seemed pleased and sent us on our way with a chocolate bar each. Next stop, to my amusement was Weener, here the bright lights of a cosy bakery shop were too much to resist and we brought a delicious cake each, yum!

It was getting late and dark as we finally made it  to beautiful Leer, a very picturesque riverside town. We had decided to stay in a hostel as we were so tired. Luxury.

Outside the hostel having a cigarette was Thomas, a German man cycling from Paris to St Petersburg (over several trips/years) with his son. Sylvie chatted with him whilst I checked in and we decided to meet for a drink. Having cleaned up and missed the hostel dinner we met Thomas and went for a pizza and a beer. Thomas was really good company and we had a lovely night eating pizza and chatting. He looked just like my friend Arron which was very bizarre.

Several beers later we wobbled home (on foot) to our warm cosy beds.

I was at this point still annoyed at the fault in the map and was convinced we must have travelled far further than the 50 something miles the route had set out, I decided to tot up the mileage again and immediately realised the maps, ok, my mistake. I had forgotten to add the first leg of the journey to the total days mileage and we had done an extra 20 miles, sorry my sister!

75 miles cycled today!....................

Day 9 - A bit lost in the Lowlands

After our little holiday by the sea we were fored up and ready to go again but when we clambered out of the tent we soon noticed it had suddenly become absolutely freezing! Good job we were fired up...
On our way out of town we quickly realised we were going the wrong way - I think the 3 camels (!!!) we saw by the side of the canal were trying to alert us to the fact that in this direction we were  heading to Timbuktu!
The signs we're  following are brilliant and combined with the map should be fool proof but there are a few things that can wrong when using this system.
1) Blinking, as in blink and you'll miss it (the sign tha is) and before you know it you're meandering down some track to nowhere or timbukto or some Dutch town whose name you can't pronounce and don't wish to visit. Luckily, between us we have two pairs of eyes so sometimes the other one will catch the sign even if you haven't....'STOP!!!! It's left, left, left,' screeeeeeetch and on with the brakes! But, like this morning, we sometimes blink at the same time.
2) Misinterpretation of the arrow on the sign. 'Hmmm, I think it's saying to go on a bit and then turn right.' 'Are you sure?, I think it's saying turn right here.' Either way, its 50:50. If you choose the wrong way at this point it's usually not long before you realise and have to turn back to re-look at the sign and realise its little arrow makes perfect sense at the same time as being mocked by your sister for not being able to understand simple arrows.
3) The map lies. As some of you will know I firmly beleive that at times all maps lie. Why do they lie? And it's definately not me, it's the map. Today (I was 'map reading') we cycled through countless villages that weren't on the map! We were following the signs at this point so we must've been on the right path but were any of these funny little places on the map? NO!
Also, as the day went on I managed, somehow, to take us on a few canny shortcuts on what woudl have otherwise been a very ziz zaggy (they don't do wiggly roads in Holland) route. I'm still not entirely sure how we didn't get utterly lost with me at the helm...I've begun to recognise the signs from behind as well now so when we're a bit lost I'm not only looking for the signs that are facing us but also those in the opposite direction. They say cycling in Holland is easy but actually I think there's quite a knack to it!

Despite my maverick captaincy we made really good time today and the ride was really pretty. At a few points we were inland a bit so we cycled through loads of villages and past tons of huge farms all of which seemed to specialise in potatoes - as far as the eye could see. The houses in this part of Holland as beautiful - paticularly the old farms which have HUGE barns with ENOURMOUS roofs which reach almost to the gorund. Then there's usually a modest house at one end - or maybe the house just look modest compared to the size of the mega barns? Anyway, whatever the size of the house you can pretty much guarantee the door is magnificent! They do seem to opt for the most wonderful doors here! And, it was just as I was admiring a door (a classic 50's black and white glass panelled number) as we whizzed through yet another tiny village that I also spotted a display of hand-knitted socks 'Te koop' (for sale) in the window of the house with the fab door! 'Stop, Hana, homemade socks, look!'. We hopped off our bikes and looked in amazement at the array of of rainbow coloured socks displayed in the huge shop-like window. These were too good to miss and especailly today as it was so cold. We rang the bell and a little old lady appeared, quite stunned by our excitement at her wares. She couldn't speak English and we still can't speak Dutch but we managed to make her laugh by squeeling lots and buying two pairs of her super socks. She showed us a good trick too; if you wrap a pair of socks round your wrist and the heel and toe meet then  they'll fit you! How good it that? So, thank you lovely talented knitting lady - you'll be helping to keep our toes warm all the way to Stockholm.
We seemed to cycle a long way today and we were pleaseantly surprised by our campsite in Lauwersoog next to a huge sluice. We had a lovely view over the water and manged to catch the sunset and orange new moon and went to sleep very cosy in our new socks.
57 miles today.

Day 8 - Holiday in Harlingen

I say holiday, we are of course resting and recouperating ready for the next hardcore and gruelling leg of our adventurous and epic journey. Still it was lovely to have a day off.

We slept in, had a relaxed breakfast, did our washing (Sylv made a super washing line) and then headed in to town.

We climbed over the dyke and wandered down the beach, stopping for hot drink and to take in the view. Loads of sailing boats and sea kayakers as well as families playing with kites on the beach. THey sure know how to enjoy being outdoors here.

Harlingen is a beautiful port town, with loads of amazing boats coming and going. The town intself looks like a mini Amsterdam and all the houses look like they were once taller houses that have now been bashed into the ground.

We strolled around at snails pace due to our dore legs, got a yummy cake each and headed back to the campsite. I really wanted to go on a boat trip but there weren't any running and although I considered just jumping on a passing oné I did want to be home in time for tea.

So tonight we're having fajitas and maybe a game of mini cards, then tomorrow we hit the road again.

0 miles today.

Day 7 - We're on the road to nowhere

Now, in Holland, they do a very nice line in cycle paths, "Fietspads", which we have already discovered come in all kinds of surfaces and textures. Very very smooth tarmac ones (the best kind obviously); sandy ones (bit trickier to work with but you do occaisionally see workmen toiling to remove the baked-on sand); muddy/stony ones (usually found on fietspads in woodland - very nice); concrete paving slab-type ones (so-so) and then come the worst...the ye olde brick ones!Yes, they look beautiful, yes, I've considered (appreciated?!), for many miles often, how long it must have taken to lay such a path, yes yes yes. But, they hurt my bottom! Over time, the little bricks - thousands, millions of them - have moved and wriggled about to create a texture much like something, well, hard and lumpy. Cycling in this manner is not sustainable - make it stop!
Anyway, today, just as I was beginning to get over the silly brick paths and enjoy the nice smooth road-side paths that were taking us inland I was reminded by the map that we were fast appraoching the beginning of the Afsluitdijk. The what? The Afsluitdijk is the most almighty causeway that crosses the Waddenzee and IJsselmeer 'seas' to connect two parts of Noord Holland. It's over 20miles long and we were about to cross it. What was that I was just whinging about? We arrived at the Den Öever end and saw another couple of tourers who looked weary enough to have just made the journey. No, they were just about to cross it too and kindly informed us that the wind was coming in the wrong direction, 'Heh heh, 80 percent time vind goes udder vay, not today, comes this vay, heh heh, lucky ush.' Oh god, I wish I'd never asked. Here goes nothing...
If you can, imagine this: A long and almost utterly straight road, grass dyke on one side, 4-lane highway and sea on the other and a strong wind in your face as you look at this bland and noisy view. Now imagine you're on a bike, a heavy bike which you're going to cycle in to this sort of abyss for 2 HOURS AND 20 MINUTES. Give me knobbly bobbly brick fietspads any day!

I can't tell you how boring it was. The endless, monotonous view, the wind, the speedy matching bike and bike-wear bikers whizzing by in the opposite direction (wind behind them) and their unsympathetic glances. Of course we reached the end which, like the rest of it, was boring, just a mass of roads to navigate and a barrage of sand flies to swat - argh!
At this point I think it's only fair to let Hana tell her version of the tale. There's two sides to every story and of course, just to be different, her's is not the same as mine. - Hana's version. I'd just like to say that the day started beautifully, we rode through the dunes and then up a little hill and wow there was the North sea in front of us, it was our first proper viewing and it looked amazing and finally were the flat lands of Holland I'd imagined. We warmed up with a hot chocolate with a whipped cream hat and cycled off.

 So the causeway, hmmm I was rather apprehensive as the distance just seemed phenominal and having spent the large part of the morning cycling into the wind I didn't relish being battered at all. As we had a snakc before we crossed I eyed up every van that passed to see if they had room for us and wishes to god there was a passing boat.  However, I did rather enjoy it, the man Sylv mentioned earlier caught up with us our first stop and when I told him I hated the wind, he said 'Hey, it's not so bad, you just have to meditate on it' man! So I did, I spent the rest of the epic journey looking for dolphins, counting the lines in the middle of the road, wheeling in and out of them and singing road related songs to myself. Mainly I was just incrediblly happy that the sun was out and we weren't doing it in the driving rain. I may have given up and gone home had it been!
We cycled on a few more miles to our campsite on the edge of Harlingen, pitched up and them whizzed in to town to catch the supermarket before it closed - empty panniers = quick cycling! After dinner we decided, or should I say our legs demanded, that tomorrow should be a rest day. We've been cycling for 7 days now and realised that this was as godd a time as any as the next few towns are smaller and , well, further away. And with that it was off to bed safe in the knowledge that we didn't have to wake up to the alarm! 65 killer miles today - pooped!

Day 6 - Hallo Holland! Knowing me Hana Leythjoe knowing you the Netherlands

As we rolled off the ferry into the morning sunshine I relaxed as I thought of the four days of flat bare land coming our way and as we finally manouvered out way out of the port and on to the LF1b Noordzeeroute I sat back and smiled, hoorah we're in Holland.
Ho ho, what's this? the pedalling got slightly harder and the day a little darker, I broke out of flat hazy dream to discover we were on another planet. Well that was the only explanation I could think of as I cycled up hill!!!!!! The Netherlands are not flat and covered in ditches and dykes, oh no they are covered as far as I could see in the most incredible huge sand dunes and forests. The Netherlands, I thought I knew you.

So, what a lovely day riding we had, up and down through the dunes and the little forests on our very own little roads. This place is like a playground, everywhere people are trundling around on their sit up and beg bikes or whizzing lycra clad out of the dunes on their mountain bikes. Old people pic nic in the middle of knowhere and small children get towed along in huge carts.

Then we got lost! In a town called Driehuis we lost our signs and lost our way, for about an hour! As we rode up and down the same road we saw a crocodile of school kids on an outing all on their bikes with the teacher at the front leading the way, so progressive these Dutch.

Back on track we road through some classic zeeside towns, that were just like being Blackpool or Torquay and finally ended up in Egmond aan Zee to pitch out tent. We dined on quinoa and a delicious greek salad then popped our weary selves into bed at about 8pm!

We cycled around 65 miles today, phew-eeee.

Day 5 - Back To The Future and In To The Night

After a restful night's sleep (in a bed) it was hard to get up this morning but luckily we were in no rush. Harwich is about 40 miles from Debenham and our ferry wasn't due to sail until 23.45 which meant we had time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and a constant tream of tea until we rolled out of Dragoman HQ just after 1pm...
We'd heard there wasn't much to do in Harwich so we decided to stop in Ipswich a while on the way. We'd also heard (thanks Chris M) that Back to the Future was showing at the cinema and so thought we'd continue the relaxed theme of the day and catch this all-time classic and despite paying 4 quid for popcorn it was well worth it (even better on the big screen - go and see it if you can!). As we were leaving a lady stopped us and donated $10.50 and, I forgot to mention, earlier in town we asked a lady for directions and she gave us $15 - we love you Ipswich!!!
After the film we hot-peddled out of town towards Manningtree and Harwich, 20 miles or so....in the dark! With our bright lights shining and our hi-vis glowing we were ready for action! Actually, it was quite a spooky ride - particularly the very quiet road from Wrabness to Harwich - we could see the lights of the port but for miles they didn't seem to be getting any closer. finally we made it by which time the popcorm had gone down and we were ready to be comforted by some chip shop chips! We found a good chippy in the old part of town and then followed the endless chain of roundabouts to the ferry.
Onboard and overwhelmed by the sheer luxury of ferries these days (the last time I went on one I was about 12) we settled down for the night and caught the last half hour of my beloved Question Time - yes, there was even a TV in our budget cabin - brilliant!

Now, if at this point you're thinking hang on a minute, Ididn't sponsor these two girls to go swanning off to the cinema and stay in accomodation with beds and clean running water and TVs please bear with us as from now on I have a feeling tyhings are going to get tougher...
42 miles today.

Day 4 - Super Suffolk

We had a great ride today, hooray! It were drizzling when we set off but the road was flat and the tarmac fair and in no time at all we were whizzing along to our half way point and lunch stop. We were cycling the back routes today which was lovely, going through lots of little villages, but as it neared our lunch break the lack of village shops began to worry me. We had lots of snacks with us, but having consumed my own body weight in sugar during the previous few days I was keen to eat something proper. So I was right pleased when we came across the post office in Packenham where they had some super luncheon items AND the post mistress and a lovely passer by donated some money to us. Hooray for human kindness.

The afternoon ride was wonderful, the sun came out and we fair zoomed along the country lanes past all manner of roadside stalls selling all kinds of treats. We resisted the jars of pickles due to lack of space but I am still half tempted to go back and get one (don't tell Sylvie).

At 3pm we rolled into Debenham, our sleeping spot for the night, Woooooo our quickest ride yet, 60 miles done by 3. Yip yip, we celebrated with a cafe stop in the sunshine and then wheeled our way to the Dragoman office to meet our hosts for the night.

Our lovely cousin Nick works for Dragonman (he's currently on his way to South Africa, driving a big truck full of people). They do all their mechanical training in Suffolk and aunty Marion had suggested we stay the night here.

We rolled in to the yard to be greeted by a scene from an 80's poster, lots of beautiful people in boiler suits covered in oil. They were all really friendly and Oli took us down to the accommodation. The trainees are all getting ready to head off to different parts of the world and it was really interesting to listen to their banter. It was lovely to spend the night here knowing that Nick had lived here,. During his stay he obtained the nickname 'Bunny', some pick fluffy ears on the wall belong to him apparently but we decided to forgoe hearing the story behind it. Maybe you can share that with us sometime Nick :)

So well fed, again, and having sampled the local Aspall cider we went to sleep, in a bed............. Thanks for having us Dragomaners, Harwich here we come.
http://www.dragoman.com/

Day 3 - Happy and Hungry at Haddenham

After a restless night's sleep (the sound of a rustling bin bag outside one's tent can seem remarkably similar to the sound of someone trying to break your bike lock when tired and over-fed!) we were ready to hit the road again and set off enthusistically at the prospect of the flat Cambridgeshire Fens! Jst past our campsite we came across the amazing Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue...

The flatter roads made a huge difference today and despite our sleepyness we made it to Peterborough by 11.30. The forecast had been for rain but the sun was still shining and we enjoyed our lunch outside the beautiful cathedral.
Keen to savour more flat roads we peddled on twards Haddenham; the roads may have been flat but where there's flat land there's wind! Wow, this little leg was good preparation for Holland. Arriving at Haddenham (FSC's HQ) was so exciting particularly as we'd made really good time, arriving at about 4pm. Normally, we go there to work but this time all we had to do was pitch our tent, get clean and wait for Aunty Marion and cousin Chris to come and escort us, by car (!), to the pub in the village! We spent the evening in The Three King and 're-fuelled' on yummy food, pudding and wine AND, my lovely FSC friend Shelia paid us a surprise visit and enjoyed a drink and catch up too - thank you all for coming to see us. Big thanks as well to Phil, Fran and Clare for letting us stay - we'll make up for it at a working weekend soon...So, not a bad day - good weather, lots of food, friends, family and Fens. We cycled 58 miles today and loved it!

Day 2 - Dinner with Dan and Kate

Sylvie popped her head out of the tent this morning and announced we were in a cloud, she could hardly see the tent next to us . We set off anyway and leaving the campsite met a man who worked in Stockholm who told us it would be utterly miserable there in late October! Hopefully the sauna's will still be warm and welcoming and the cinnamon buns plentiful.

Today was really hard, we cycled down through the peak district to Nottingham, completely shrouded in the cloud with huge rock laden trucks bearing down on us. It was good fun going down hill though and I always like to pretend I'm in the Tour de France.

We stopped at the newly married Bellerby household for lunch, Kate cooked us yummy pasta and after eating barefoot in the sun we set off for the Wolds..................

Wolds suck! We pedalled up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down all afternoon, stopping only to gorge some chocolate and fix a puncture (Sylvie's this time). It was dark by the time we arrived at our campsite and as reception was closed we pitched up. Having momentarily satiated my hunger with a whole tree's worth of nuts I spotted a bell for the night porter. He came charging out of his caravan shouting at us to move our tent and warning us he'd have to check the security cameras to see what we'd be up too since we'd arrived. After explaining that we were just exhausted and agreeing to move the tent he gave us a smile and said Oh are you doing this for charity, don't worry about paying and off he went.

Lovely Dan and Kate had arrived in the village pub meanwhile and after showering and putting on our matching eveningwear (purple trousers and pink fleeces, I kid you not!) we walked to join them and ate delicious crumbles with roasties and cauliflower cheese. Yum.

About 60 miles today pedalled today. We're on our way!

Day 1 - Manchester to...Stockport (The Wettest Day So Far!)

We woke up (in the middle of the night) and it was raining. Then we woke up again, this time at 6am and it was still raining. Until now, all our cycling during training has taken place in glorious sunny, breezy weather - perfect for cycling, and now this, torrential rain AND cold. Why today? But who cares! We're off to Stockholm!
We set off as planned from Fran and Stu's beautiful shop, http://www.afewfinethings.co.uk/ and for the first leg to Buxton were joined by our very own entourage! Cousins Francesca and Thomas, Uncle Joe, Stu and his dad Derek all hopped on their various bikes and kept us company despite the rain and the endless stream of red traffic lights as we wormed our way through the Manchester suburbs. Before we'd even left the city centre, just by the Apollo,  Hana got a pucture! As with the weather, we've been lucky so far with punctures during training with one between us in four months! It was a good little test though and Hana's nifty skills meant we were back on the road within minutes - phew.
The 7 of us made it Buxton in time for a late lunch and enjoyed lots of warming tea before parting company. The entourage caught the train back to Manchester and we (after spending lots of money on waterproof socks) pedlled on to our lovely campsite http://www.barnfarmcamping.com/ by which time the rain had stopped but it was just beginning to get dark...

After our first Trangia-cooked dinner - a protein feast of chickpea curry and quinoa - and a very neccessary shower we were ready for bed. Ahhh, Day 1 done - 49 miles down, 1451 to go...

The empty dish from the previous night's dinner!

Before we set off we'd like to say a HUGE thanks to...

Everyone who has sponsored us so far

and

Atass Foundation

MS Society

Tamara Pears

Jon Pettifor

Afewfinethings

Aaron Sewards
Duncan Hills
Howies

Cycle Tourer

Bellerby Engineering

Love Velo

Alex and everyone at Kings Cycles, Taunton

The Bicycle Chain, Taunton
Ralph Colman Cycles, Taunton

and 

Our wonderful family