sorry no blog yesterday, late arrival, will explain why later! lovely breakfast at Malmaison… their staff were so friendly and kind, took our bikes down to the garage, gave us iced water for our water bottles, just couldn’t have been more hospitable.. we decided the mark of a gorgeous hotel is the detail and the attention to stuff….thank you so much to Malmaison…even down to the good luck cards in our rooms!
beautiful morning and great cycle path through Oxford, Abingdon and the Oxfordshire countryside…. there were red kites flying overhead, amazing birds and wooded, river side cycling paths. We cycled about 35 miles then stopped at a little pub that seemed to appear out of nowhere.. they were just closing but the landlord brought us a tray of tea and coffee and waved our money away when he knew we were doing a charity ride. Thats the best thing about these rides, peoples’ generosity of spirit and meeting other cyclists, people stopping to chat when we’ve stopped…. our sponsored hotels…. I started off after the pub all downhill, which was gorgeous but after half an hour, blow out of back tyre! Frank came back for me and my wheel needs a good sort out, so he’ll do that now but that was my cycling over after about 40 miles, still.. first day so a few more to go before Saturday! Reka and Annabel cycled off into the distance..Frank, Lisa and i set off in ‘Arriba’ Frank’s camper and had a traffic jam ride down to Godalming, during which we realised that although tough physically, there’s something so amazing about cycling from A to B.. Now Reka and Annabel wouldn’t have agreed yesterday because after following the cycling route all together for the morning, from late afternoon apparently all the signage disappeared, villages listed were no longer villages and finally at 9 p.m. they made it to Godalming and we were guided into Joe and Barbara’s house just before 10 p.m. Thank you to Joe and Barbara for comfy beds, baked potatoes and loads of other food, hot showers and everything we needed! So hopefully Frank will get my wheel fixed now and we’ll be setting off to Brighton…Anyone out there with insomnia start cycling…. your head hits the pillow and suddenly its morning! x
Sep17
you girls just so superstars, all of you ( and Frank)!!! xx
Bonjour mes amis de poulet! Bienvenue en France! bravo, continuez. envoyant mon amour, Jemilla xxxxxxx
hello ladies and your supporters. Hello Lisa I hugged your auntie Val on Sunday….we now know who we are! was the crossing okay. I keep reading the tweets(even re-tweeted one) and the facebook posts. what an adventure! inspiring!