London and Paris 2010 - a tale of two challenges! by Chect

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We've been a long way in a short time.  It seems unreal that less that five days ago we were at Crystal Palace nervously waiting to set off.  Here is the proof of our photoshoot send off:

So from then onto Dover and 93 miles under our belts we munched our way through a shed load of food on the ferry and finally made it to our hotel 103 miles and many hours later.  My one and only blog (below) suggests the fatigue that was felt by every single one of us.  We had to tackle some massive hills and draw on every bit of strength to get through the rest of the day.

Day 2 - Calais to Abbeville 75 miles

Sunny and scenic with welcome stretches of open roads - un-beknownst to us it was a public holiday and France felt like a ghost town!  Not a soul in sight!  We meandered our way from water stop to lunch and water stop again.  Some of our team going all out and others (such as myself taking it a little more leisurely ;-) its not a race afterall!!)

Abbeville was a welcome sight as was a glass of wine at the end of the day - purely medicinal you understand!  As some of our team will demonstrate

Day 3 - Abbeville to Beauvais 70 miles

By far the toughest day for me.  Legs were tired, body was tired and the scenery was not all that exciting.  Previously I had been occupied with stunning views, and wide open spaces - not so appealing after 200 miles in!!  But the cavalry were on hand!  The CHECT cheering squad extraordinaire had flown in especially from Inverness and boy were they a sight for sore eyes:

Adopting all our fellow cyclists the SMITH CHEERERS aka Mum and Dad!! were on fine form.  Thank you so much guys - what a wonderful boost to the team morale.  And to think you now have a whole new adopted family as a result!

Day 4 Beauvais to Paris  60miles

What can I say?  It was everything we'd imagined and more - sunny day, spirits were lifted and our energy renewed.  The homeward straight was in sight all too quickly.  We were convoyed in after a short mornings ride. Elated and emotional (again!) we rang our bells with all our might.  London to Paris was finally a reality and we've got the Tshirts to prove it!

It's hard to summarise just how transformational this journey has been for me (and I think most of our team) - there were stories shared, friends made and a lifetime of memories created.  We'll continue to share this experience with other L2Pers and I've no doubt there will be other adventures for CHECT but for now I'd just like to say a huge CONGRATULATIONS to the wonderful team of sportsmen and women who have given up so much to do this event for the CHILDHOOD EYE CANCER TRUST.  Well done gang!  You can hang up those padded cycling shorts now!  Well perhaps until the next time ...