Day One
London 2 Calais

Day 1: Grande Departe

What a send off! Thank you to all our friends, family, colleagues and representatives of our charities and sponsors who turned up early this morning to wish us well on our cycle to Monte Carlo. We were pleased to hear that the funds raised was around £80k before we set off with hopefully more to come on our journey.

We had a fantastic day of cycling making the ferry in Dover on time, no punctures and minor mechanical problems.

A thankfully dull day to report on except glass in South London, tree felling and road closures on the route, there were some strong performances to win the coveted DOTD award.

​

Our international team of riders gelled very well today and all looked after each other today which was a real positive and will serve us well for the challenge that lies ahead. I was pleased that we introduced Jakub and Dominik a new English tradition of "builders tea" from a motorcycle greasy spoon - sad we didn't have time for the "full English" as it looked fantastic!

​

Sorry a shortened report today as after the ferry crossing we arrived at the hotel  around 11pm and I had to do my kit washing! 

​

DOTD : Despite Jakub and Mario trying to win the award by heading off in the wrong direction without navigational aids for a few miles before Cuttsy could catch them and return them to the fold the winners by a stretch were our non support, support team Tony & Owen. When they were not at the first stop Cuttsy and I checked the location of our airtags that was in our luggage. We were confused to why they were heading back into central London! The boys later confessed that they might have got a little lost and that was why they were not there to look after us at stop 1. They also missed our 3rd stop (slight miscommunication!)  but made some points back by laying on a great lunch (thanks Boki) with plenty of sweets, cake and treats.​​

​

Beer of the Day:  We had our first team pub stop today where I embarrassed to report I had a Madri shandy! I will try harder tomorrow when I hope we will have more time to sample some of the local re hydration juice!

Cheese and Wine Update:

Watch this space.....

​

​Arse Report (sponsored by Natural Little Bee Chamois Balm): All good as you would hope after  first day of riding. Needless to say I will keep you fully up to speed with any developments!

​​

Weather Watch:

We were blessed with fantastic weather, bright, sunny and a pleasant 20 degrees. More of the same please.....

​

Until ​