Week 1, Manchester to London 344 km’s

Arrived in Manchester, UK after a 22 hour flight from Cape Town via Abu Dhabi to start the big ride. My mate John that was due to pick me up from the airport had gotten the days mixed up and was stuck in Bristol after a gig, so it was flying solo for the first few days. Off to Evans cycles to pick up the new bike, met the lads that had assembled her, a huge thanks to Tom and Richard for all their help at Evans cycles they went above and beyond the call of duty and the service was fantastic. Dropped off bags and went for a full English breakfast and a pint of Guinness to celebrate my birthday and the acquisition of my new wheels and closest partner for the next two years.

A few days in Manchester couch surfing and ironing out all the minor niggles with the bike, two amazing fund raising gatherings, one in Withington and one in Wigan, a huge thanks to John Fairhurst, Rik Warren and Louis Barabas from Debt Records for playing some outrageously good music at the Withington gig and another heads up to Gaz for his persistent haggling of clientele for donations at the Wigan gathering.

Interviews on Unity radio and BBC Manchester, followed by an interview with Manchester Evening News saw me set off from Town Hall at noon on a wet and windy Sunday with Vaughn my co rider and sponsor from Quea consulting services joining me for the Manchester to London leg of the journey in some heavy rain. Thanks to those of you that came down to the starting point to see us off, the conditions were not the best but the support was fantastic.

Mechanical glitches in Stockport which saw me towing Vaughn a few km’s to a local bike shop to replace a part damaged by the airlines baggage handlers and a demanding day of cycling through the Peak district saw us roll into a beautiful country Inn for the evening in Buxton. Day 2 sees us continue through the Peaks on route to West Hallem for a family catch up and a well deserved hot bath.

104 km day out of West Hallem to Northampton saw us breaking the backbone of the Manchester-London stretch of the ride and a few shorter days from Northampton to Luton and a Luton to London stretch that saw us roll into Kings Cross on Thursday just after lunch, 344 km’s on the clock.

London is never with out it’s eventful evenings, one of which saw me getting locked out of my hotel room at 3 in the morning naked after opening the wrong door of my hotel room and wondering into the passage instead of the bathroom. Thanks to the woman in room 307 for throwing me a facecloth to cover up with and head down to reception to explain my situation. Kindly met by a young gentleman with a wry smile and a “don’t worry sir, this happens all the time.”

Week 1, Manchester to London was a gentle introduction to the trip and the bike is running fantastically well, I have fitted a dynohub on the front wheel and will be harnessing the energy created from pedaling and charging my mobile phone from the power generated which is quite an exciting prospect. So it’s east towards Harwich and the ferry to Holland from here catch up in a week from the Netherlands.