The Picos Ride for Cancer Support: Homeward bound

Last of the Picos Riders - to Rome Alone!

Our first two charity rides were a huge success - raising over £20,000 for the South East Cancer Help Centre.

The Centre does a fantastic job of supporting patients and carers at the most difficult times of their lives. They make a real difference and you could help them in their work by contributing to our fundraising. Donations can be made via JustGiving.comhttps://www.justgiving.com/Tom-Vaz/ or directly into the Centre. For more details of the Centre and their work see their website at http://www.sechc.org.uk/

After 3 years of rest it seemed time to dust off the old muscles, bones and sinews and do one more spectacular ride in aid of this fabulous charity.

This time I will travel alone for 25 days, mainly following the ancient pilgrimage route to Rome, the Via Francigene, covering a distance of around 1,400 miles.

The route travels through Newhaven - Dieppe - Paris before I eventually reach the Via Francigene in Eastern France. From then on it is pretty simple apart from having to cross the Alps without an elephant!

Monday, 30 July 2012

Homeward bound

Having decided to change our route to avoid the mountains we left Santiago with a vengeance covering 88km because the road was so smooth and flat. We spent the night in a lovely hostel at Baamonde where we changed our minds about the route. Des has deep misgivings but has agreed to lead us back to the Camino Primitivo and up the Cantabrian Mountains.
Having committed to the route with a swift ride to the Roman walled city at Lugo there is no going back. From here we have 37km this afternoon to our overnight stop at o Cadavo followed by a full day of climbing tomorrow. Hope the legs hold out.