5th May 2006

Well yet again it's been a while since an update from me so here it goes. (I promise I'll get more updates out when I'm on the road, honest :D)

Plans are moving forward for the trip and equipment, contacts, routes and even sponsorship are beginning to come together nicely. I'm beginning to realise quite what a tall order I'm asking of both my body and my mind but I'm sure that with all the help that I know I will receive it is definitely possible :)

Soon after Easter 0I did my first fully loaded long distance ride on my new bike. The plan was to cycle from home in Salisbury up to Uni in Durham. The first 100 miles from Salisbury to Leamington before Easter were fine although I should have stopped for more fluid towards the end, I was a bit too keen to get there! It took about 11 hours door to door and included a few hills in the Cotswolds but nothing too strenuous. Probably the hardest part of this ride and the biggest lesson learnt was simply the phsycological effort of keeping going & not giving in.

After Easter I left Leamington on the Tuesday and aimed for three days back up to Durham. Day 1 Leamington to Peak District, day 2 Peak District to Yorkshire Dales, day 3 to Durham. I had a variety of campsites highlighted along the route varying from 80 to 100 miles/day. Day 1 saw me up to Bakewell, nr Buxton. I still had much to learn about making and breaking camp efficiently so everything too quite a long time.

After a night listening to the rain pounding the tent I was rather weary & had the added complication of trying to keep as much dry as possible. In the end it took 2.5 hours to get-up and break camp which I definitely need to work on! I then hit the Peak District proper! I made it up to Glossop without too much difficulty and had a fantastic cycle from there down to the torside resevoir. Then I hit the Holmfirth Peak, had I looked at the map a little more carefully I would have seen that this was a 526 meter peak & therefore not ideal for cycling! I had a longish stop at Holmfirth and found I still had about 35 miles till the first campsite and it was already about 3pm. I set off and to compound matters I took the wrong road out of Holmfirth getting temerarily lost. After about another 9 miles I'd just past Slaithwaite and the fatigue kicked in big time. I could have looked out a local campsite and make the trip slightly longer but as I still had much revision to do back at Uni I decided the sensible option was to head back to Slaithwaite and get a train the rest of the way. After a bit of fun and games with the bike I managed to get back to Durham at about 8 rather tired!

The main problem with this ride was the time constrait as I've found in the past and so I'm going to have to make sure I'm prepared on the way to Hong Kong to shorten the trip if necessary and not rush (could be difficult for me but I'll soon learn!)

I now have a seperate account set-up for sponsorship money and so far I've raised about £300 with about £900 pledged.

If you haven't already please sponsor me at www.cycle2crossroads.co.uk or e-mail me for postal/account details if that's easier.

Thanks a lot

Tim