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!

Wednesday, 15 July 2015

Day 2 Dieppe to Char, Val d'Oise

Char is set in the beautiful Val d'Oise so I'm near the outskirts of Paris. I found a good campsite in a forest and yes there are trees for my hammock! I've arrived a bit early at 4.30pm but the lack of recovery time from the wet and windy ride to Newhaven, the ferry journey, lack of sleep and the 85 miles covered today have all taken their toll.

Nina's Cancer Centre flags are still flying and are encouraging people to talk to me.

I met some very interesting cyclists in the ferry last night. One guy was on the last leg of a challenge - 4 cities in 4 days. 250 km per day! Starting from Luxembourg - Brussels, the Hague and London and Paris.

And there was a young couple staying off on a 1 year trip to Cape Town! Yet they felt sorry enough for me to sponsor me!

I was hoping for a shower tonight but I guess that will have to wait another day, for tonight I have the groan of the trees and the drone of mosquitos for company and they're not likely to complain about the smell!

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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous15 July 2015 at 12:30

    So you haven't had a shower & slept in the wet Woods last night??!! I'm glad we are in Purley....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ronnie Guha24 July 2015 at 19:20

    Bad boy. Not having a shower!!

    You better be clean before you return!

    ReplyDelete

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