Picos Original Riders

Picos Original Riders
Highlights of 2010

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!

Sunday 22 July 2012

Sunday is a day of rest!

My night on the concrete floor was quite interesting. I kept waking up to allow the blood to flow in various parts of my anatomy.
A gentle ride was planned as we were supposed to go to mass at 12noon. However, fate intervened, or in Des' opinion we did. He was having a minor problem with his chain coming off. When the rest of us told him how to fix it the result was completely non-functioning gears. After much huffing and puffing we got it corrected but were well over an hour late.
Another huge lunch at Luarca and a beautiful church on the cliff. Even the beach was almost deserted. Cannot believe why the English go to Southern Spain.
One of the pictures shows the motorway bridge high above the road. Our hearts sink everytime we see one of the bridges in the distance. The cars get to drive straight across the valley in elevated splendour while we peasants on two wheels face a steep downhill and a steep climb at the other end.
Eventually we did 80 very hilly km today and at least we all have real bunk beds to share. Just shared a bottle of the Asturian sidre which the waiters pour in a bizarre fashion. Must go, a real bed is calling me!


Following the motorway


What goes down...

1 comment:

  1. Love reading the blog and seeing all the exotic pictures (of Spain I meant!) Wish we could enlarge them. Glad to hear you guys are still alive and on track for your target 1500 km. Take care.

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