this is less misguided.

http://www.justgiving.com/Dan-Strudwick-London-to-Paris-en-velo

misguided training

We set off from London on Wednesday morning. We are due to arrive in Paris on Saturday afternoon. That's a bit of ground to cover in a few days.

And it is meant to be 37 degrees by the time we hit Paris. And I am Ginger, so I'll most likely be red by the time we get to Paris.

So in preparation for this little trip a few of us (not the whole group) have had 3 'training' sessions.

Misguided training session 1: Camberwell to Brighton, well actually...

- Camberwell to Decathlon in Surrey Quays

- via Broadway Market

- up to Highgate
(where some men shouted out of their car window at me "big bum" - this was just at the point where the hill gets really steep and I needed all my physical and mental energy to keep going. So I stopped. Right there in the middle of the road in front of them. big bum and all)

- then to Hampstead Heath

- back down to Regent's Park

- ice cream on Vauxhall Bridge

- then to the Pub in Peckham

Not quite London to Brighton then.

Never mind, better luck next time...


Misguided training session 2: Richmond to Fensham Great Pond.

We were due to leave Richmond at 9.30. But Peter wanted a tea, and I wanted a coffee. In an attempt to get everyone to leave a bit quicker I threw half of the coffee in the bin, but I shouldn't have bothered because Alex (not coming to Paris, but just for today's ride) and Stuart were at the other entrance to the train station. So we left at 10.30 and headed west along the Thames Path...

But the Thames path near to Richmond isn't that suitable for road bikes so we hung a left, and took the roads towards Woking. Which would have been fine apart from we'd only brought with us an OS map from Woking to Fensham. This meant navigating A roads from Hampton Court to Woking, which was a bit grim.

But once we got past the city slickers in their 4x4s, and the suburban mums in their estates we were on a beautiful canal path, windy hilly roads and fields. We stopped in a bizzare village hall on the way and bought a glass of squash. Stuart tried to woo the old ladies by regaling them with tales of our intrepid journey all the way from the big city - but they couldn't care less and continued to darn the little pieces of material they held in front of them. Alex and I did some cartwheels.

By this point it was 3pm. We were meant to be meeting Dan and Ollie at Fensham Great pond by now.After a few arguments about directions, a treck through a field of sweet peas, a dash across a dual carridge way and a right past a house that wouldn't have been out of place in Sweden we arrived at Fensham Great Pond.






Dan and Ollie had left, but we had a nice dip -  Peter in particular enjoyed playing with a pink bucket that he stole from a small child, and Stuart got bitten by a shark.

Misguided training session 3: The Cambridge loop

On the hottest day of the year Stuart, Peter and I set out to cycle a 70 mile loop around Cambridge. The theme of the day was punctures - Peter got 2: 

The first conveniently near to a pub showing the England / Germany Match. The second not so far from the train station in Cambridge.                                                                                                                                                                    

Other notable things from this sweaty cycle...

1. We made some friends with some ducks:  

2. We ate some bananas in the most scenic spot ever: 

3. I managed to miss the film screening I was meant to go to on top of a roof in Camberwell: 

http://www.camberwellarts.org.uk/2010/rooftop-cinema-–-art-living

So all in all, I'd say we are pretty well prepared for setting off to Paris in 3 days time. 

misguided planning.

Tasks for our little jaunt were divvied up weeks ago, but it is only now that we are 6 days away from cycling that we're actually doing anything about them.

So far Oliver and Matyas have managed to avoid misguided panning errors, mainly because they are yet to indulge in any of the planning. However the rest of us are in the swing of things, as far as misguided planning goes...

Dan is in charge of booking hostels etc. He is currently in Glastonbury, with a sore knee ligament that may - or may not - be better for the big off next Wednesday. Knee aside, hostel booking will have to wait until he comes out of a muddy field on Sunday. It is worth noting that after Glastonbury last year Daniel went missing for a few days...

Stuart is the man looking after bike bits. His task is to prepare a list. He has prepared a list and sent it round to everyone. Naturally we've all ignored it.

Peter lives in a co-op in New Cross and likes to go swimming. He's in charge of the route. We don't have a route, as yet. Probably Peter has been too busy with all that swimming.  But we've heard that there is an old train track from Dieppe to Paris. I guess we'll come across it when we get of the ferry.


Oh the ferry...

I am in charge of booking the ferry. I am so in control I booked our spaces weeks ago.

I just forgot to book bikes on board the ferry.

I phoned up the ferry company just now,  simply let them know we'll be bringing some bikes with us. But we can't: there's not enough room, of course. And they can't refund my money for the Wednesday 11am ferry, nor can they tell me when the next ferry with 5 slots for bikes will be (but, madam, it is probably the 11pm ferry that evening. Or failing that 11am one the next morning).

The only way to find out if there is space for all 6 bikes is to book them on, one by one. Which means if the ferry gets full up as I am booking the 6th person on then they will have to get a different ferry. And there is just no way of knowing before you book if that'll happen.

So i just booked. Below is a list of the misguided bookings I have made:

Matyas, Peter, Stuart, Dan, Oli, Anna: 11am 30th June. all booked (weeks ago) no bikes.

Matyas, Peter and Stuart: 11am 30th June. booked, with bikes

Oli: 11pm 30th June. booked with bike

Matyas, Peter, Stuart, Dan, Oli, Anna: 11am 1st July. all booked, with bikes.

No refunds on any of the above. So now all we have to do is decide which ferry crossing we'll take.

you're not that hard

An email conversation between mother and I sets the tone for the whole trip.

Mother@aol.com: Anna - Do you care to tell me when you are going to Paris?

Anna@hotmail.com: July. beginning.

Mother@aol.com: Will you be safe? Do you know the route? Are you aware HOW FAR AWAY paris is?

Mother@aol.com: Fine, don't tell me. I know it is because you haven't planned a route or done any training.

Anna@homail.com: Of course we have planned a route. And I cycle to work and back everyday, that's at least 10 miles.

Mother@aol.com: Paris is further than 10 miles.

Mother@aol.com: Are you the only girl doing this?

Anna@hotmail.com: yes. But I'm hard.

Mother@aol.com: you're not that hard.