Wednesday 31st August 19:45

We have been in Morocco since Sunday and have already made it to a seaside town by Kinetra. Our routine in Morocco is very different to that of France and Spain. We start cycling at 1:30am each morning as this seems to be the only way to cover meaningful distance without risk of heat exhaustion. Every afternoon we split up to find the best place to sleep. We often end up triggering a price war between locals offering us their houses! Wherever we go here we attract attention but it has all been positive so far - lovely to have groups of children clapping and cheering as we cycle past! We seem to be eating out every other night here as well. Lots of interesting food and for not much money! Tomorrow is a rest day which we will probably spend relaxing on the beach. Hoping to make Casablanca on Saturday then Marrakech Monday. Bring on the Atlas Mountains!

Unfortunately we were denied permission to cross to Africa by kayak and so we are just buying our ferry tickets to Tangiers. A last quick note: never trust green grass in Spain. We were unceremoniously woken by sprinklers at 1am as we slept outside in Marbella.

Some photo´s for you non facebookers

 troy celebrates the 1000km mark

 the team cycling though france

 our camp site (7 with benifits)

 bens hidden talents

Friday 26th August 14:30

We smashed the 2000km marker a couple of days ago and are currently resting in Malaga. Fortunately for us Dan has a very kind friend who has put us up for two nights so a massive thank you for Diego for that! It´s great to have use of simple things like washing machines for the first time in weeks! The hospitality people have shown us on this trip really is amazing. On Wednesday evening we met a lady called Dawn in Encinas Reales who gave us all tea and use of her internet to source maps for the route to Malaga. Just to clarify from the facebook page and to prevent any unneccessary worrying back home, some of the group were ill but everyone who was is pretty much fully recovered now - it appears a bug spread through the group which was made worse by cycling in ~40°C of Spanish heat. Luckily the recovery time has been less than 24 hours so we will be well on our way towards Algeciras tomorrow. 
Hopefully we have learnt our lesson and we will now be more careful with hygiene and are debating whether to start cycling at 3am - decision on this to come later this evening! 
Those of you who haven´t already, if you ´like´our facebook page Here you can check out some pictures we have uploaded! 
Also, a quick thank you to everyone who has donated to SOS Children. We are currently on £2,257 which is 75% of the way to our target of raising a pound per kilometre cycled - £3,000! http://www.justgiving.com/Africa-Expedition-20110

Monday evening we probally became the first expedition to have an hour long discussion as to whether to modify the route to include a night out in Malaga. To cover the extra distance we went for 150km yesterday. However, we have suffered for it today. we have decided to cover the next 150km in two days. Hit 74km/h yesterday morning! We still have a few hundred metres of descent to try and beat that. Bring on a night out in malaga tomorow and morocco on the 28th!

We managed a nice and flat 100 km to find ourselves in a secluded picnic spot just outside Aldea del Rey. Troy managed to get us some fresh watermelons for lunch courtesy of a kind farmer who was towing a trailer full past our lunch stop. Tomorrow should be a bit hillier as we get close to Spain's southern coast.

20th August 13:00

It´s our third rest day and we have been lucky enough to get showers for the second night running as we are staying in a beautiful park in the heart of Alcazar. We are all currently relaxing out of the mid-day sun to prepare ourselves for more cycling in the morning. We have managed to get ourselves into a good routine in Spain which involves us getting on the roads for 07:00 and getting the majority of our daily distance out the way before we look for a spot to siesta in at around about 13:00. I am sure that come Morocco a 7am start will seem like a lie in as the sun starts to get stronger!

As promised here is a shout out to All saints School from weymouth; thanks for a great exped to poland!
James

We are now in Alcazar as we steadily make our way through Spain. Total trip distance is 1697km and we are consistently covering 100k+ a day. Got lucky in Tarancon last night where Dan managed to clinch us free showers, outdoor swimming and a sports hall to sleep in! Rest day tomorrow so hopefully we can find a campsite.

Monday 15th August 19:00

We planned to have a rest day yesterday at a campsite we believed to be 20km away. After cycling in the morning it soon became apparent we had found ourselves a ghost town which possibly had a campsite many years ago. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we cycled on to Agreda. When we arrived the final day of their fiesta was in full swing. The locals were so generous and we were fed and watered within minutes of arriving. Apparently it was ´the day of the chicken´ so we were given a bowl of chicken for our table. It wasn´t too long before we drunk the free bar dry and followed the celebrations into the centre of town long into the early hours. Tomorrow we will continue cycling South towards Madrid, assuming we are able to leave this fantastic town!
Still no luck with the SIM cards but hopefully we will be more successful tomorrow.

Saturday 13th August

A hugely successful day yesterday saw us cross over the border into Spain whilst climbing an 18km ascent peaking at over 1000m. We then enjoyed a quick descent out of the clouds and found a picturesque (think sound of music) field to camp in. Unfortunately the French SIM cards do not work in Spain so it may be a day or two before we can update the blog reliably again. We are now in Caparroso as our total distance has hit over 1100km!

Will Adam and Tom´s alternative Blog (for those down with the kids):
Hear me Now blud. After a Bangin´ day thrashing over the Pyrenees we boshed up to 1000m and rapidly boshed back down again. Hitting 60 odd kph. BOOM!! We then scored a sick campsite where not even the Nazis could find us (think sound of music). bad tings with the sim cards. we are now chilling after a day spent in da sweaty heat of Spain. EASY NOW. xx

Another scorching hot day meant we were very thankful when we got to our riverside campsite at Lahontan. We even managed to cause a small traffic jam on the bridge as the locals stopped to watch us jump off into the river. Big day tomorrow as we climb the Pyrenees into Spain.

Wednesday 10th August

Currently in Ychioux and looking for somewhere to camp for the night. Had success in finding Troy a new wheel so hopefully it will not break again. Not a cloud in the sky now and hopefully it remains that way for the Pyrenees.

Camped by a lake at Lacanau. Perfectly flat roads saw us quickly towards Spain and we hope to see the Pyrenees tomorrow.

It was Ben's birthday yesterday and we were lucky it coincided with our first rest day, allowing us to relax last night with well-deserved beers. We are now camped outside a French fort near La Rochelle. Its walls are proving a great playground to the climbers in the group!

Camped by St Pierre. Rained all day, Troy broke 3 spokes but we still reached 100 km. We are well on our way south to the Pyrenees.

Camped under bridge by the river Louvre outside St Germain. The river provided a welcome wash!

22:30

Unfortunately, shortly after last night's message it started raining and did not stop until this afternoon. More bad news was that we had a minor crash resulting in Adam needing a new wheel. Despite all this we managed 80km and are now camped not far from Vitre. Our total distance is above target so things are looking good.

22:30

Our first day of cycling went well as we covered 130km of France's west coast. We have found a forest outside Joulouville which is where we are camping tonight. Hopefully the sun keeps shining tomorrow and we have another successful day.

In France

We have safely arrived in Cherbourg after two days of fantastic sailing and are all about to sleep before our first day of cycling. We have managed to get French SIM cards now so updates should follow regularly as of tomorrow! The photo below is of one of the two yachts we used for crossing the channel. Surprisingly we had no problems fitting ourselves plus the bikes in the yachts. Unfortunately the wind was not strong enough for us to reach St Malo so we hope to catch up on time and make it there for tomorrow.



Southampton

After 9 months of planning we have reached the day where everything comes together. Throughout the day the group will arrive at a campsite just outside of Southampton in preparation for our departure on Monday morning.
Unfortunately I must pass on some bad news which is that Alex came off his bicycle last week, breaking 2 ribs and tearing ligaments in his knee. As such he will be unable to travel the full distance but hopefully he recovers enough to join us in Morocco.
Updates on the blog will continue after our sailing as soon as we get our hands on some French SIM cards.

Ame D'aventure

After much deliberation, we have decided to utilise the local resources and use kit bags and mules for the ascent up to base camp on Jebel Toubkal. The remaining trek to the summit will require us to carry our own kit.

The team would like to say a huge thankyou to AME D'AVENTURE, who are providing us with kitbags for free. In addition, they have arranged a farewell dinner for the team before we fly home from Marrakesh, in celebration of our achievement! Many thanks for your kind generosity!

For more information on AME D'AVENTURE, take a look a the following link: www.ameaventure.ma

The Final Training Episode

The final training ride started at Gloucester Train Station at midday on Wednesday the 6^th July. Both Troy and I were a little delayed by our own inability to read simple train timetables and by the time we both arrived in Gloucester Katie and Dave were waiting for us with Ali, Dan and Tom having gone to shop for food. Upon their return we made up sandwiches and distributed food before heading west towards Symonds Yat – our planned campsite for the night. Our first planned RV point was at a pub featuring a giant dinosaur in the garden. This was the description given to Tom, Troy and myself by Katie with her local knowledge. True to her word a giant Diplodocus (I hope I got this right) came into view as we crested a small hill. Disappointingly the pub was not open so we pressed onwards.

 The sky had been looking threatening since leaving Gloucester and we started experiencing intermittent showers as we headed through the Forest of Dean. The group I was in caught Dave, Katie, Dan and Ali shortly before Symonds Yat as they were stopped by the roadside. On closer inspection it soon became apparent Dan’s pannier rack had come loose and literally slipped off the back of his bike depositing half his gear in the middle of the road. After some tightened bolts and a red faced Dan, we continued as a group to find a suitable location to set up camp.

For once we actually found somewhere to camp at a reasonable time and before the sun had set which was nice as we didn’t need to rush around with setting up camp and preparing dinner. Our spot was at the edge of the Forest of Dean in a pretty little glade. The rain kindly eased off for us as we cooked our dinner of pasta, tomato and bacon. On previous weekends we had been cooking with slow burning meth spirits but for this training weekend we had the use of jet boilers. These small little cookers really pack a punch as we soon found out. Tom narrowly avoided setting the campsite on fire as he struggled to turn off the gas when he realised he had the valve open far too wide. We had originally planned on eating pasta for two nights but after this night we were easily persuaded to change our minds. In fact, a little word of warning to people reading: do not buy Asda value pasta unless you feel like changing the water halfway through to get rid of the starch. By the time our pasta was cooked it could be passed off as a cheese pasta bake as the starch stuck in and around the pasta. Unfortunately in a taste test it definitely would not pass as a pasta bake. 

The morning of Thursday was dry and we awoke in good spirits thanks mainly to a good night’s sleep. We left camp heading for Ewyas Harold via St Weonards and within the minutes the skies opened to batter us with torrential rain for the morning. Continuing in the same groups as the previous day Tom, Troy and I arrived at St Weonards in good time. Not realising that this was simply a checkpoint we began the ‘wait’ for the other group. By the time we had received a brief history lesson from some of the local villagers along with donations of food from the village shop we realised that actually the other group was ahead of us and we quickly pressed on half an hour in deficit.

Arriving in Ewyas Harold we met the other group who had been waiting patiently at the chip shop and joined them for some more food. The target for the day was Pen y Fan and we still had a long way to go so we pressed on Westwards along unclassified roads towards Velindre. My group had not gotten far before Troy’s rear tyre appeared to explode not far in front of me. I wasn’t emphasising this as Tom came round the corner shortly after us thinking he had just heard a gunshot. A quick check of Troy’s tyres revealed the recommended maximum pressure as 80psi. Considerable lower than the 120psi Troy claimed he had them pumped up to. After changing the inner tube we were back on our way through the ups and downs of the Welsh valleys. 

Some of the ascents that lay between us and Velindre were particularly gruelling and we stopped for a brief rest on a picnic table up on one of the hills we had come over. After a lot of effort we finally made it to Velindre which turned out to be signposted Felindre. Which of these it actually is I am unsure of as on all the maps (including Google) it is marked as Velindre. Anyway, we were soon berated by the other team for “Stopping for history lessons and picnics” and the group decided we would use the A roads to follow the contours of the valley and bring us quickly into Brecon.

The A roads made a real difference and we soon found ourselves in Brecon with enough time for a pub stop before we headed to a field at the base of Pen y Fan to camp in. The long grass in the field made for a lovely mattress beneath our backs as we slept through heavy rain into the morning.

The night before Troy kindly volunteered to stay in bed (so generous) to watch the bikes as he had tragically forgotten his walking boots. After a little trouble route finding the rest of us finally found ourselves on a track for the summit of Pen y Fan. A couple of false summits, a little over an hour of climbing and constant rain and wind finally led us to the 886m peak. The wind was so strong the SAS Chaplain we enlisted to take our photograph couldn’t even hold the camera still and ended up cutting Ali’s head off* – see below. I said this before (but I’ll say it again to enhance all our egos) – the only other people on top of Pen y Fan that morning were the SAS completing their selection process.

Despite it continuing to rain, the weather felt far more peaceful back at our camp and again we were all smiles as we left to head back to Brecon for more food supplies. For the last two days we changed the group compositions around so this time it was Dave, Katie, Troy and I in one group with Ali, Dan and Tom completing the other group. After a brief stop at Morrisons we followed the A road down to Abergavenny notching up 20 miles in just over an hour. The next checkpoint was Monmouth which we made in good time again allowing us to reward ourselves with a pub stop. By now the day had turned from rainy to sunny and we could enjoy a pint or two outside, warming ourselves in the sun.

That night we camped not far from Monmouth next to a bridleway which would leave us with a nice manageable distance to Lydney the next day. Tom, Ali and Troy had trains to catch from Gloucester whilst Dan and I had to head the other way back to our homes on the other side of the Severn Bridge. This meant we were all grateful for an early finish in Lydney that allowed us all to get home in good time. I can’t comment on the groups ride back to Gloucester as I was not a part of it but I will say Dan and I enjoyed very nice weather as we crossed back over to England and along some pretty (and thankfully flat) B roads. 

I should add that Dan was awarded the mallet for unceremoniously dumping his rear pannier and consequently half his luggage in the middle of a Welsh village. We can now all look forward to meeting up with the rest of the group as we continue to train and prepare for what is promising to be an exciting summer. Finally, thank you to everyone who has so far donated to SOS Children. Having your support is great and I'm sure the Moroccan children will be just as appreciative!

*Ali’s head was not literally cut off and he will still be on the expedition

Madison Bikes and Ridgeback

A big thank you to Madison Bikes and Ridgeback who have kindly supplied Dave with a touring bike for the expedition! Check out their website: http://www.madison.co.uk/products.aspx?vertical=cycling

Monmouth

The weather was miserable throughout last night and into this morning as we climbed Pen y Fan. Torrential rain and extreme winds didn't dent our enthusiasm to summit and the fact that the only other people on the top were the SAS in their selection exercise is a credit to us. By the time we reached Abergavenny the sun had shown itself to dry us out and now Dave, Kate, Troy and myself are drinking outside a pub in Monmouth as we wait for Dan, Tom and Ali who left slightly behind us. We hope to camp back in the forest of dean before our final day.

Thursday

We are currently camped in a field at the foot of Pen y Fan which we will be ascending tomorrow morning. The first night we camped in the forest of dean and we've since travelled up and down in the brecon beacons to where we are now. The first two days have been very wet so hopefully we get some sun to dry us out tomorrow! Apologies for no update last night but there was no signal.

Final Training Weekend

Originally we had 3 training weekends planned but as many of us have had to miss at least one of these we are having a 4 day training ride starting tomorrow morning. We meet at Gloucester station mid morning and the plan is to cycle out into the Brecon Beacons arriving at Pen y Fan Thursday. We will then climb Pen y Fan before finishing the cycle back into Gloucester for the Saturday evening. As always keep checking the blog for updates of the next few days!

cycleathon at sheffield decathlon

Patron

We can announce that Mark Beaumont has kindly agreed to be patron for our expedition. The backing of such an influential figure in cycle touring is wonderful for our expedition so many thanks to Mark. Mark has cycled round the world, completing the 18,297 miles in just 194 days and 17 hours - a world record at the time. His cycling adventures have been the subject of a BBC documentary and he has raised a substantial amount of money for charity. Mark has offered his enthusiastic support to our expedition this summer:

"Sailing, cycling, kayaking and climbing from the UK to Morocco... what an inspired challenge! I have no doubt that for everyone involved and for those following it will be a real voyage of discovery. Best of luck"

Now fuelled by Bikefood

We can announce that we will now be supported by Bikefood. This British company has provided cyclists with cycle-specific energy drinks, food and supplements for five generations. No doubt our expedition will be aided greatly by having this top company on board!

Third training weekend

First of all an apology from myself. It's the exam season and everything is getting a bit hectic! This means that 1) This post is very late and 2) Only about half the team have been able to make this training weekend.

Now, I have been reliably informed the group are progressing nicely! Snowdonia is the location for this weekend and the team made it there yesterday with time to cycle out to the foot of Snowdon before setting up camp by what I can only imagine to be a picturesque lake.

The Saturday morning saw the group summit Snowdon via Crib Goch. Probably the most challenging route, this involved a Class 1 scramble. I have been told it was misty in the morning - probably a good thing as it would conceal the height of the drop off the ridge!

The group made it back down Snowdon for 14:00 and have since cycled a further 45km as of 18:30. As I get more updates I will keep everyone informed of progress!

Second Training Weekend

We wanted to run this training weekend in a similar way to how the last one was and use it to increase our experience of cycle touring. We did have a target for this weekend however and that was to fully recreate a day’s riding by cycling 100km on the Saturday. Also, we had arranged to have some kayaking practice in Crookes Valley Park to round off the weekend.

Our weekend started as usual on a Friday evening except this time we had not planned a route in advance. We split into 3 pods of 4 at the start and one person from each pod went away to plan a route whilst the rest of us went through the first aid protocol we will be using on the expedition.  Everyone on the expedition does have a first aid qualification but Sam and Dave refreshed our memories and went through the contents of our first aid packs with us.

At about 20:00 we left for Tesco to stock up on food supplies for the weekend. We definitely favoured calories over quality but this is the wait to go when eating as much food as we need to be. It was a novelty to head out to Ringinglow with nice weather and an equally welcome novelty to be setting up camp before midnight. We camped in pretty much the same spot as on selection weekend but it could not have looked different. No snow and nice dry ground made for a much comfier night than back in December! 

We have been working on getting back on the road faster in the morning and our efficiency on the Saturday morning was probably our quickest ‘get up and go’ to date. An early rise at 7am and by 8am the campsite was clear with us beginning our 100km day in the direction of Penistone (much to the amusement of our mature group). My pod had left camp first and when we got to the RV point in Penistone we got a phone call informing us the other two pods were about 45 minutes behind us as Alistair had a puncture and there were difficulties in repairing it. Apparently his front wheel had rusted so that they couldn’t use the quick release and it required a quick phone call to one of Alistair and Sam’s local friends to come to the rescue with a spare part. Otherwise we could have been looking at a repeat of the last training weekend! Situations such as these are quite helpful to us on the training weekends as it reinforces the idea that we need to make sure to service and maintain our bikes regularly.

We continued steadily on throughout the day and stopped briefly in Holmfirth for the ‘Last of the summer wine exhibition’. Unfortunately this proved to be a massive anti-climax, as exampled by the shopkeeper next door whom when asked, could not tell us where the exhibition actually was. The highlight of this stop was probably Tom informing everyone that eating a whole banana including skin is impossible shortly before Adam proceeded to prove him wrong. Sadly Adam wouldn’t take the bait when the rest of the group promptly told him that eating his own poo was also impossible.

After Holmfirth we had a very long climb up to Holme Moss Summit from the Northern side which was a good challenge for the group and a great descent on the other side which saw us reach speeds of over 40mph. I feel it is appropriate to insert this direct quote from Wikipedia here: “The northern side in particular is one of England's most well-known bicycle ascents, and has acquired a reputation as among the country's more difficult climbs.

“From the north, the road begins to rise from approximately 190 metres above mean sea level in Holmbridge and gains steadily towards the village of Holme. The road then sweeps round to the left and thereafter the steepness increases through a series of switchbacks. 1.5 kilometres from the summit the gradient climbs above 14%, and remains testing until the car park near the mast is reached and the summit crested. From this side the ascent is 4.8 kilometres long at an average gradient of about 7%. It is often made more challenging by the prevailing south-westerly wind.”

We then headed on to Glossop before another long (but not as steep) climb out from the Manchester end of Snake Pass before following the winding road all the way to Ladybower reservoir. This was amongst one of the best stages of the day as the sun was setting as we descended for a good ten miles. Upon regrouping at Ladybower reservoir we headed to a local pub where we met a couple who had passed us earlier in their Volkswagon camper vans. They informed us of a great campsite just 500m up the road and we didn’t need much more persuasion than flat ground, toilets and running water! We took a little longer travelling 500m up the road than expected as Alistair realised he had lost his key for his bicycle lock. Ten minutes later we had managed to break the lock with a few tools and some brute strength. We did however find the key on the ground only yards away shortly after we had broken the lock. We’re still debating whether it losing the key was the bigger mistake or the group of us breaking the lock off when the key was only yards away!

After another comfortable night and morning we headed back in to Sheffield via a detour of Strines Valley ready for some kayaking practice. Adam, Alex and Will went ahead of the group in order to get the boats down to Crookes Valley Park and we even had a two man sit on top to practice with. This was really helpful as it is the type we expect to use for our actual crossing in the summer. After some expert instruction from Adam, Alex and Will we all took our turns at pairing up and capsizing then climbing back on board the sit on tops so we could get a feel for what it was like. Hopefully we won’t be needing to do it too often as it was difficult to get back on board without the high waves we are likely to experience across the Strait!

To finish the weekend Adam and Will went over some bicycle mechanics with the group and I gave a brief talk on road awareness as well as group cycling techniques. Finally we practiced some more first aid scenarios given to us by Dave and Sam before parting ways. Again we had a great time and can all look forward to the next training weekend where we hope to travel to Snowdonia, climb Snowdon and practice some kayaking in the sea.

Pub

Our target for today was to cycle 60 miles before sunset and we are now sitting in a pub by lady bower reservoir getting a well earned pint. We will be out kayaking tomorrow afternoon so have another busy day ahead of us!

Morning

Nice and early 7am start and we are nearly all fed and ready to start the days cycling. Getting better at being more efficient in the mornings means we should be away by 8am and also means I should stop updating the blog. Look out for more updates.

We're getting better at this...

We've set up camp in lady cannings plantation (the same place as out first night on selection weekend) and all our tents were up well before midnight! We are all cooking now and should be able to get to bed fairly shortly. We plan to cover 100km tomorrow so will definitely need our rest! Oh and for once the weather is actually being kind to us - no rain!

Quick update

Our second training weekend kicks off tomorrow evening where we plan to cycle out from Sheffield and wild camp as we did on our last training weekend. This time we will be planning the route just before we leave and again make the weekend as 'expedition realistic' as possible. On the Sunday we should have access to some kayaks which will enable us to get out and practice for one of the crucial stages of the summer - crossing the Strait of Gibraltar.
In other news we have so far raised well over £200 for SOS Children's Villages. This should increase further as we have a cyclathon coming up outside Decathlon in mid-May amongst other fundraisers. More details of this will be sure to follow.
Here's hoping we actually get some dry weather for once and as always keep checking this blog for updates throughout the weekend!

Equipment

Check out the kit list HERE

Cakes

We are having a cake sale at the heart of the campus of Sheffield hallam. We will be here until 3 so come on down! Lots of beautifully home made cakes available.

Training weekend #1 report

The group assembled for our first training weekend on what was a deceptively mild Sheffield on a Friday evening. We got to see each other’s expedition bicycles, some of which had only recently been acquired – Ben’s bike had been brought up from London on the train with Troy only two days before! In order to re-create the daily life we will be living on expedition, our first stop was at Tesco where we split into smaller groups and stocked up on three days of food on a budget. Unfortunately Ben’s bike, which had already been serviced with new gears the day before, suffered a ever so slight problem in that one of the pedals had fallen off. This provided an early test of Adam’s bike mechanics as the pedals thread had completely worn away. Eventually, just as a few drops of rain could be felt, Adam was able to secure the pedal back in. But how long would it last?

 We then proceeded to head out of Sheffield into the Peak District in what was pretty much a reverse of the originally planned route. This was partly due to the realisation that parts of the Pennine Trail would not be suitable for touring bikes. Continuing the theme of reversals we had a very early pub stop at The Fox House. By now the rain had been falling at a steady rate so that when we had finished the ascent out of Sheffield we were thoroughly soaked as we went to the pub for a quick pre-dinner drink. Although we had dried off somewhat, after a couple of minutes outside again we were once again suitably drenched as we pushed our bikes off road into a wooded area not far from the pub. By now we were into the early hours of the morning as each ‘food group’ hurriedly made dinner before retiring to the tents for the night. 

The next morning we were up early for breakfast and conveniently the overnight rain had pretty much completed the washing up from the previous dinner. We had a quick group meeting to reflect on the weekend so far before leaving the campsite group by group in the direction of the next rendezvous point. RV points will be used when we navigate on the expedition so it was important to get into the practice of using them! We headed further out across the Peak District in the direction of Manchester and we hadn’t travelled much further than the small town of Hope when Ben’s pedal came off again halfway up a long ascent. The wind was blowing very strongly at the top of the hill we were on so we free-wheeled down to seek a bit more shelter in a car park and attempt to repair Ben’s bike. Unfortunately there wasn’t much else to be done without the proper parts so Adam and Ben had to head back into Hope in the *cough* hope of getting parts from a local bike shop. It turned out that Ben needed to go back into Sheffield to get his bike sorted and so the plan was for Ben and Adam to meet us later on in the day in Glossop train station. 

A few hours later the group minus Ben and Adam reached the RV point of Glossop train station. A quick phone call later and we were made aware that a horse on the train track was delaying the service from Sheffield for several hours. We then decided to head North out of Glossop towards the A628 to set up camp whilst it was light and wait for Ben and Adam there. Unfortunately Troy could only get a few days off work and had to be back in London on the Sunday so it was at Glossop that we had to part ways. Troy’s exit was typical of him – he checked multiple times which road he had to follow all the way into Sheffield until he (and we) thought he had it clear in his head. This is Troy we were dealing with however and he comically took the first wrong turn he could possibly have taken. We waited a few seconds preparing to humour his joke but he did not re-appear prompting James to have to chase after him and send him on his way back to Sheffield via Snake Pass.

We followed a beautiful winding road out of Glossop that hugged the side of a hill with a drop to one side leading to a reservoir. The reflection of the sunset was beautiful and the skies were clear for probably the first time since we had left. After much deliberation over where to pitch our tents we finally decided on pitching behind an old abandoned house just off the A628. We did look to see if it was possible to spend the night inside but the only unlocked door led into a room filled with old sinks which was less than helpful. The group then cooked dinner before heading into the tents with the plan to wake up at 23:00 to take it in turns to head back to the main road to flag down Adam and Ben who would finally be re-joining us. Alex and James were able to bring them to the camp and re-heat some food for them and although a few hours previously it had looked unlikely, the whole group (minus Troy) slept in the same place on the Saturday night. I guess it’s a good job that we are cycling and won’t be getting the train to Morocco on that day’s evidence!

After a day and a bit of riding I probably wasn’t the only one who was expecting the going to be tougher on the Sunday. It soon became apparent however that actually after a decent night’s sleep we were all fully recharged and able to make very good progress on the Sunday. Heading East along the A628 we kept a very reasonable pace before heading South through some smaller B roads to join the Snake Pass back into Sheffield. These smaller roads were great practice for our hill climbing as there were a series of steep sided valleys that we had to roll down one side and climb back up the other. To give an idea of how steep some bits of these were – there was one person we encountered also out cycling who had stopped on a descent as he needed to let his rims cool where his brakes had been overheating and were consequently smoking! 

We arrived back in Sheffield at approximately 15:00 where we took the opportunity to take a few group photos as well as review the weekend. It was really encouraging to see morale remain high throughout the whole weekend despite having some terrible weather. On the Sunday morning when we got out our tents to the miserable grey sky and drizzling rain James reminded everyone that the day is what you make of it and regardless of external factors, it’s down to you if you enjoy yourself. Truer words could not have been spoken. 

Bring on the next training weekend!