2600 miles, 29 days. all finished, thank god for that
2600milespoppyappeal
Posts: 25
Friday the 27th at about 1300hrs I arrived back at home, here in France. 2653 miles in just under 29 days.
A month of cycling both physically and mentally exhausting made worse with a broken hand and wrist as the result of an unfortunate fall on the fourth day of the trip. Special thanks to Lt Col Haynes for letting me recover at his house.
The weather was superb throughout France and Italy, constantly over 30 degrees and hardly any clouds. I raced through Monaco and across to Pisa where I met a young couple who were also doing a bicycle tour and they came with me to Rome and then to Ancona before we parted as they headed south and me north.
From Ancona into Germany the weather got steadily worse with the altitude but I continued to eat up the miles, eager to get the Alps behind me. I crossed into Austria via the Brenner pass, going slightly higher than the main road (as it is a motorway I had to use the small side streets). Coming down on the other side it took me 30 mins to get to Innsbruck (30miles) and I hit my top speed of 67mph, overtaking cars, trucks and motorcycles as I rattled along silently screaming to myself all the way down.
Once in Germany I spent a day with each of my aunts in Bayern and then took several days to get to the Hoffard's house (old friends of mine) near Stuttgart. It was Lisa's birthday during my stay which did last a little longer then I had planned but was good fun and great to have some rest and nice food. Nice food meaning anything other then stale bread and warm ham, which I had been eating since I started.
Leaving Lisa's I had 550 miles to cover to get home, going down to Strasbourg I made use of the flat terrain and made good distances on the first two days before turning west. Most of my night near Strasbourg was spent drinking schnapps and whiskey with a couple of German families. One of them had seen me putting up my tent and having giggled at how small it was offered me some pizza he had just made. I accepted and sat with them talking and they brought out their two bottles which we drank until about 2 in the morning.
I left at 8am on the last day and managed to arrive at home just in time for lunch.
Over the last 29 days I have cycled 2653 miles, cycled up to 11 hours in a day and hit a top speed of 67mph. The longest distance I cycled in one day was: 186 miles.
I would like to thank everyone for your support, the text messages and messages over facebook I got on the way helped a huge amount.
To all those who sponsored me, its a great cause so thank you for being so generous.
Once back in York there are a few events planned: BBC Radio York, British Legion fundraising and local newspaper interviews.
I have put all the pictures of the trip up on the internet if you would like to look at them please go to: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?g
Phil Charlesworth
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/1man1bike2600miles
A month of cycling both physically and mentally exhausting made worse with a broken hand and wrist as the result of an unfortunate fall on the fourth day of the trip. Special thanks to Lt Col Haynes for letting me recover at his house.
The weather was superb throughout France and Italy, constantly over 30 degrees and hardly any clouds. I raced through Monaco and across to Pisa where I met a young couple who were also doing a bicycle tour and they came with me to Rome and then to Ancona before we parted as they headed south and me north.
From Ancona into Germany the weather got steadily worse with the altitude but I continued to eat up the miles, eager to get the Alps behind me. I crossed into Austria via the Brenner pass, going slightly higher than the main road (as it is a motorway I had to use the small side streets). Coming down on the other side it took me 30 mins to get to Innsbruck (30miles) and I hit my top speed of 67mph, overtaking cars, trucks and motorcycles as I rattled along silently screaming to myself all the way down.
Once in Germany I spent a day with each of my aunts in Bayern and then took several days to get to the Hoffard's house (old friends of mine) near Stuttgart. It was Lisa's birthday during my stay which did last a little longer then I had planned but was good fun and great to have some rest and nice food. Nice food meaning anything other then stale bread and warm ham, which I had been eating since I started.
Leaving Lisa's I had 550 miles to cover to get home, going down to Strasbourg I made use of the flat terrain and made good distances on the first two days before turning west. Most of my night near Strasbourg was spent drinking schnapps and whiskey with a couple of German families. One of them had seen me putting up my tent and having giggled at how small it was offered me some pizza he had just made. I accepted and sat with them talking and they brought out their two bottles which we drank until about 2 in the morning.
I left at 8am on the last day and managed to arrive at home just in time for lunch.
Over the last 29 days I have cycled 2653 miles, cycled up to 11 hours in a day and hit a top speed of 67mph. The longest distance I cycled in one day was: 186 miles.
I would like to thank everyone for your support, the text messages and messages over facebook I got on the way helped a huge amount.
To all those who sponsored me, its a great cause so thank you for being so generous.
Once back in York there are a few events planned: BBC Radio York, British Legion fundraising and local newspaper interviews.
I have put all the pictures of the trip up on the internet if you would like to look at them please go to: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?g
Phil Charlesworth
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/1man1bike2600miles
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Nice one!
We did 1,000k in the Pacific N.West in 95. 60 miles per day, 3 guys, one girl, 2 drivers.
Was totally fit, flying and stoked when we got back.
DA IAWN/Very good !0 -
cheers, that sounds awsome. i wish i'd had some company, i did mine solo and without support so had to carry all my own stuff. i think next time i'd need to do it with someone though, being by myself for almost a month isnt great... plus it'd mean less stuff to strap to the bike0
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Very, very envious of you.0
