Home!

Now home after a brilliant but tiring week. A full description will follow. See attached news item - and have a look at the video. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/10196718.stm

There are daily videos of the ride at http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/bbbr_2010.html

Day 4 - Amiens to Arras

Day 4 – Amiens to Arras
70 miles, average speed 12.9 and fastest speed 35.5.
We awake to a dry morning. The team who organise the whole event are from a company called Discovery Adventure – a great crew however their basic appreciation of time and distance can take some getting used to. At the morning briefing we were told that the first stop was 4 miles – well 11.9 miles later we arrived at the Australian monument! We now ask whether the mileage being quoted is a DA estimate or real! I could give you all a history tour of the first world war, however there are very good and voluminous books you can read if you are interested. We were well supported by our Commonwealth troops, and Australia was the most supportive. Out of a small population (in 1914 the whole country numbered 3 million people) – 10% (all men) volunteered to fight of whom 50% were killed. What an impact on a nation! Accordingly there are some splendid monuments which we visited commemorating their sacrifices. Continuing with Australia, a mass grave of Australians was found last year and a new Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery built (the first for 40 years). The last of the bodies is due to be buried in July – attended by the Australian and British Prime Ministers and other dignitaries.
Throughout the route we passed cemetery after cemetery – often within a 100 yards of the last. Phenomenal the number of dead. Each country has however a memorial to those soldiers who died but whose bodies were never recovered. The British one is at Thiepval (pictured – apologies for the quality, camera battery has died). The white limestone columns contain a proportion of the British names (the plan was to build 3 such monuments but then, as now, the government was broke and the other 2 were not built). Of great personal interest was finding the name of Amanda’s great, great uncle – Captain George Fussell of the Warwickshire Regiment. Now the Warwicks take up a whole face of one of those columns – hundreds of names. We had a most emotional ceremony and at the end there was not a dry eye amongst us and some were openly sobbing.
The Canadians not only have memorials but some are national monuments – and as such are manned by Canadians sent out from Canada on 4 month postings. A visit to one such memorial was at Beaumont-Hamel. What was fascinating is that the trench system has been preserved – and one can see how close the 2 sides were – and really imagine the wholesale slaughter that took place.
On route to Arras, passing more ceremonies I was passing someone who had stopped at one of the smaller cemeteries who said – “I prefer the smaller ones because I can then blub without anyone else seeing”.
Finally we visited the caves of Arras – where not only 24,000 soldiers sheltered from the artillery fire prior to the Battle of Arras in 1917, but where the New Zealand tunnel engineers built 27 miles of tunnel, in the rock only using picks and shovels out from the British lines so that the troops emerged just in front of the enemy lines. Fascinating.
Room a luxury – by myself! Investment in the cream was a good move and as each day progresses I am fitter than before!

Day 3 - Dunkirk to Amiens

Day 3- Dunkirk to Amiens
81 miles (most ever in a single day), average speed 12.2 mph and maximum 32.3 mph

We left a damp and grey Dunkirk for a long day through the damp and grey French countryside. One quickly learns that when in the morning briefing you are promised some spectacular views these are not generally from the valley bottoms! At the top of all the big hills though our accompanying piper was playing us up – something rather surreal about cycling through the French countryside to the far distant sounds of Scotland the Brave. Today was a slog, and very few made it to the one memorial service as we so spread out – several hours between the first and last. Lunch was spectacular – there is something great on a wet and cold day being greeted by mountains of hot pasta bake and steaming urns of tea! Having given myself plenty of time to pack I did forget one vital item – the Udderley cream, so I stopped at a French pharmacie for a substitute. I thought Sudocreme was a fairly international brand, however the two rather pretty yound serving girls played ignorant as I then had to explain what I wanted – or more to the point (my schoolboy French being somewhat limited) – demonstrate why I needed it! After much hilarity and bemusement I came away with some cream which I was told was excellent. I am now looking for a French speaker to have a look at the packaging before I try it – the last thing I need is some form of deep heat! Good hotel, red wine plentiful and sleep deep….

Days 1 and 2 - Monday/Tuesday

Now that I have internet access:

Day 1 and 2 – Departure and the road to Dieppe
48 miles, average speed 11.2, maximum speed 35 mph.

Assembly on Monday was at HMS Victory dockyard – 299 keen, lean cyclists – and me! In fact what was noticeable is that a large proportion of riders were there to “do their bit” and there were mothers whose sons were serving in the forces, a good number with missing limbs – 2 on sit down bikes, one with peddles and one hand powered and about half a dozen single amputees, a fair few ex military and some who had no connection at all with the military.

HMS Victory was looking spectacular in the summer sun, and the guides did an excellent job showing us around. At full compliment the ships company had 850 men and 5 women. When showing around a group of nuns last week, one of the guides was asked by the Mother Superior what the task of the women was, he had to think quickly, and replied – they were the cooks. The Mother Superior replied – ah, the oldest profession.

The band of he Royal Marines gave a spectacular beating the retreat in front of HMS Victory and the past post was played for the first time. A fine and stirring speech from the Second Sea Lord, and we were off – 2 miles to the ferry port.

As you can imagine, the ferry bar was pretty busy but they did managed to keep us supplied with an ample supply of sleeping juice – before adjourning to our 4 man berths. Too few hours later it was up and about and onto buses at Caen for a 2 hour journey to the start – a small village outside Le Havre.

At the start, we were welcomed by the mayor in his finery and around the graveyard containing 5 commonwealth graves we were given a fine rendition of “God save ze grazious Queen” by the local children. After a bacon sandwich prepared by the amazing “Extreme Catering” in the village car park, and a fine glass of cider royale (like Kir Royals but with cider) it was off.

Who said Northern France was flat! They do have white cliffs, and pretty sea side towns and villages and plenty of “S” bend roads. Lunch stop was to remember the soldiers of the 51st Highland division who fought gallantly against Rommel's 7th Panzer division in 1940 (post Dunkirk) at their cliff top memorial. Our accompanying bandsmen are excellent – a young piper from the Scots Guards, a bugler from the Rifles and a trumpeter from the Gunners. A fine bunch. Also escorting us are two young Household Cavalry NCO’s – to keep us in order. Both fresh back from Afghanistan – interesting to chat to.

The final stop was Dieppe where we commemorated the landings by the Canadians in 1942. Not the finest hour for Allied Operations – but incredible courage – 2 VC’s were won.

As I write this (on Wednesday morning) we are just post an amazing thunderstorm and it is difficult to tell the sea and sky apart. More to follow….

The Off

Well, today is the off on another epic adventure! The body isn’t ready, but I am sure it will cope – as my physio said to me, plenty of Ibuprofen and Red Wine will be the answer!

Thought I would give you a quick overview of the timetable for the next week. Full details are on an earlier posting.

Monday. Assemble at Portsmouth Historic dockyard for briefings and a tour around HMS Victory. A “spectacular” send-off from Victory and a short ride to the ferry port for an overnight ferry to Caen – 4 to a berth (the joys!). Distance – 2 miles.

Tuesday. Le Have to Dieppe. 50 miles. “Rolling coastline”. Battlefields/Cemeteries: St Valery-en-Caux and Dieppe and various memorials on route. Overnight in Dieppe.

Wednesday. Dieppe to Amiens. 75 miles. “Testing terrain”. Battlefields/Cemeteries: Grandcourt, Cauillon, Crouy. Overnight in Amiens.

Thursday. Amiens to Arras. 70 miles. “Thought provoking day”. Battlefields/Cemeteries. River Somme, Albert, Beaumont Hamel, Arras tunnels. Overnight Arras.

Friday. Arras to Ypres. 70 miles. “Tough cycle”. Ba­­ttlefields/Cemeteries. Vimy Ridge, Vermelles, Festubert, Armentieres, Ploegsteert, Ypres and the Menin Gate. Overnight Ypres.

Saturday. Ypres to Dunkirk. 50 miles. “Flatter lands!”. Taking part in 70th Anniversary of the evacuation. Overnight HMS Largs Bay off Dunkirk.

Sunday. Dunkirk to Dover. Cycling a tad challenging. Wreath laying at sea. “Assault landing” on Dover beaches. Final celebration dinner in Dover Castle.

Monday – return home.

I will attempt to update this blog on route – but please bear with me if these are infrequent as some of these cheaper end French hotels aren’t renowned for their wireless connectivity!

If you want to see why I am doing this – then have a look at the profiles of some of the people on the ride with me: http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/bbbr_featured_2010.html

Final Training in Dubai

A picture from earlier this year, but please be assured I did cycle past the Burj Al Arab hotel this week - just that at the time of the morning I was doing it there were precious few tourists around to take a happy snappy - and I was pretty keen on just getting on. Managed to ride every morning (bar one) on a pretty useful bike hired from Wolfi's bike shop in Dubai. So quite a few miles done - and cycling here is quite exciting. The main roads I tried to avoid - too exciting - therefore the side roads were the option, and every day I ended up on a road which either went off in the wrong direction - or just stopped. On one occasion, I was on a bridge which was only half built! Consequence was to pick up bike and trek across the desert to the next road (never too far away) - lift bike over barriers and off we would go again (we being me and the bike!). There are worse places to be training - and plenty of miles cycled - though it doesn't really count as Dubai is as flat as a pancake and the only undulations were either overpasses or underpasses! London tomorrow - then final training in Wiltshire planned for the weekend before the off (24th).

The Final Weeks

Last Sunday I took part in an organised ride - The Jurassic Beast - 65 miles around the coastal hills of Dorset. Those of you who were here to experience our fine bank holiday weather will recall that it was cold, wet and very windy. The delights! Added to which the route was a tad bumpy - with over 4,500 feet ascended over the day. A good test of fitness - and lo and behold, I came to the conclusion that I have a way to go yet! A couple of firsts during the day - trying to mend a puncture - and went through 2 inner tubes in 45 minutes before some kind gentleman took pity and fixed the problem in 2 minutes - must be practice! The second is what is called in the trade the "horizontal stop". On the bottom of my shoes I have cleats which clip into the medals - ensuring the feet are fixed in - I am told it gives one more power! Anyway, the knack is to un-clip before coming to a halt, otherwise you stop, feet still firmly anchored to the pedals and you topple over. So I managed it - at the 40 miles water stop just to give quite a decent sized group something to keep them amused. Hopefully I will not repeat it again.

Only 2 weeks to go now - and I am going to have to hire a bike in Dubai this next week to keep the training going - and the following week is going to be busy with 3 nights in London. Lots of eating and drinking - which will be good training for the evening activities, but I suspect will not assist during the day! I am therefore anticipating that a bit of grit and determination will be needed this year! Anyway, what's 350 miles between friends! At least I will have all my limbs, which will be more than some of the other riders.

Departure date is 24th May - far too close for comfort!

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