Finished

Well the journey has now ended, I caught the Ferry from the Hook of Holland and arrived back in Harwich at 20:35 and had a small ride to meet my father who had come to pick me up. I would have liked to continue for another day or so but after the torrential rain i had endured for the best part of 5 hours whilst getting to port had done me in and I was ready for home.

Day 7

It's 1:15am and I've just arrived in Hook van Holland having left Retranchment at about 11am, today was a tough one first I got lost in Middelberg and it seemed to take forever to get on the right path, then as I was approaching Veere the heavens opened up, I tried to take shelter but with no joy so I decided to carry on after about 5hrs of solid rain the waterproofs i'd bought wasn't waterproof anymore and I, and everything in my trailer was soaked. I managed to stop at a service station on the N57 heading toward Rotterdam and get into some dry cloths but realised setting up camp would be useless because everything was soaked so set about getting to my final destination. I had to get a ferry from Rozenburg to Maassluis and whilst on a cycle path in Rozenburg which is a complete shit hole, it was about 10:30pm and a group of about 5 lads tried to pull me up so I toed it straight the middle of them. Riding from Maassluis to Hook it rained again but only for about an hour, then managed to get lost again in Hook van Holland on some industrial estate but soon got back on track. Now I've just got a 6hr wait for the ferry but I would do it all again for sure. Total miles for the ride 424.


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Day 6

After the quick stop for lunch I decided with a belly full of energy I would press on to see how far i could get. Riding through Belgium was more scenic than northern France but didn't really stop to get any snaps as I was in the zone. It was getting to late afternoon and I realised the time had flown by but new I wasnt far away from Holland. This spurred me on to smash through Belgium in a day and thats exactly what I did.
Not far over the Border was a small town called Retranchement. I eventually found a campsite not far out of this town and settled down for the evening. Today was a good day!!!

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Dinner

Seeing as I have stopped for a proper lunch I thought I'd give a quick update and let you all know I'm Ostende already. Thought I'd take a quick snap of this statue, apparently its of King Leopold II

Day 5

Still cant believe that I've got so far in so little time but today is the day I crossed the Channel.

Set of from Stanford for the relatively short ride to Dover to catch the earliest Ferry i could

Got the 14:00 Ferry across from Dover to Dunkerque and arrived in France at 16:00. I decided to stay in France for this evening so I could blitz through Belgium tomorrow and eventually found a campsite at Bray-Dunes. Pitched up by 20:00 ready for a good nights sleep.

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Day 4

Having had a great rest and nights sleep its onwards and upwards as they say.

Not wanting to cross London with a MTB and trailor I decided to use the train for this part of the journey. So I got to St Albans City train station and boarded ready to arrive at Sevenoaks slightly later on.

Since getting off the train the skies were relatively good but I could see a dark patch looking so I headed straight off.

A field with a big white cross in it.

First sign for Dover!!!!!

Unknown to me at the time but as I've now found out, I think I have a rain magnet on my bike somewhere as this patch followed me all the way to the campsite for tonight..

The campsite was beautiful though, based at the Drum Inn at Stanford. Really friendly place and they even gave me dinner for free. Amazing generosity!!

All things being well I hope to be in France by tomorrow afternoon and maybe even manage to reach Belgium...we shall see.

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Day 3

Not exactly the longest day i've had in the saddle but I put that down to the excellent progress so far.

Yet more exploring of this wonderful country, sadly let down by a fair bit of riding down the A5.

Random Layby heading towards St Albans

Just as I got to St Albans

A relatively short ride from last nights campsite over to St Albans where I have the pleasure of staying at a friends house, so i'm looking forward to a decent bed and proper home cooked food.

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Day 2

Another great day of riding, the weather is holding out and if it stays like this for the whole trip I'll consider myself very lucky. As you can see I'm progressing down the UK nicely and I hope you like the day to day maps showing where I have ridden.

Towcester Race course

Woburn Abbey

Woburn High Street

Today I made my way from Long Itchington down to Woburn. Found a nice campsite and pitched up just after 6pm. Ready for some dinner and get my head down for a good nights sleep. The legs are slightly achey but nothing a good 8 hours wont fix. Roll on tomorrow!!!

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Update

Well I've just managed the first leg with no dramas. Cycled 46 miles and pitched the tent just behind the superb little pub,  The Green Man, Long Itchington

Leaving Birmingham

The Green Man Pub

Pitched up for my first night

Perfect setting for my first night and cant wait to get a good nights sleep and start all over again with the exploring of this magnificent country. Also added a couple of pics of the journey so far and a map of my progress today.

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Day 1

So here I am, just about to set off into the sunshine and start my amazing journey. I have a short first day to get to one of the many campsites across the UK before getting to Calais and then the fun really begins. As soon as I get t site i will be uploading a small map to show my daily locations. Please feel free to keep donating as i get further down the country as every penny raised is goin to such an awesome Charity.

So it begins!!!

Well I've now got all the funding I need and so first thing Sunday morning I will be setting off to Amsterdam. A little later in the year than originally planned but this being the first year for this ride I overlooked a few things. This has now all been sorted and so I can make my way on the 1st August and you will have daily updates(as long as i find internet) of the upcoming ride.

Funds slowly coming in.

Recently i've had some work come my way which means my original plans seem to be back in play, the ride will take place as soon as all the work is complete and i have the funds to leave, roughly 2 weeks from today. I'm determined to make this ride a succsess dispite a run of bad luck, mainly my tent being faulty which meant i had to leave bike radar early, and a couple of issues with my bike. I beg people who are following this blog to bear with me. my last post with a change of route was put in place in case funds didn't come in and i couldn't afford to do a ride abroad. Keep watching this space.

With Regret!!

With regret I have had to postpone my ride due to circumstances out of my control. Due to difficult times I have been unable to raise the funds I need to take on the ride, however there will still be a ride, just be it in this country. On the 24th of july I will ride from Dover to Falmouth over a 12 day ride. The ride is about 200 mile shorter, but no less difficult due to the terrain I will be crossing. I hope this will come as some consulation to the people who have so kindly donated sponsorship toward my original ride. As for the original ride I will have to postpone this untill next year, this will give me 12 months to raise the funds I need and plan it out a little more and hopefully get a few more riders to come along. Please continue to follow this blog as the new ride will still be fully covered!

Weekend Fund Raising!

This weekend was all about raising sponsorship, so with my bike, trailer and an A-board off I went on a mission. On Saturday I pitched up over Cannock Chase and with the help of my girlfriend and her children we managed to raise about £100. Then today we pitched up over Beacon park where they had the 'Cars in the Park' rally where we raised around £300, giving a total of £400 over the weekend. We had a really good weekend doing it and I'd like to say thank you to my girlfriend Sonia and her children for there fantastic efforts and a big thank you to all those who donated, job well done!!