The Picos Ride for Cancer Support: Through the clouds to Asturia

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!

Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Through the clouds to Asturia

Having left the Roman city of Lugo behind us we soon started climbing into the mountains eventually reaching a peak of 840m before staying overnight at o Cadavo at 7.30pm where we found the hostel was already full. Not a problem as we could then wallow in the luxury of a 1 star hotel!
The morning ride started with a series of steep ascents through the clouds to 980m before we reached our lunch stop at A Fonsagrada. This afternoon is the big test as we climb what I have just been told is "a bloody big hill!"