Their story, in their words…
On the 4th of August, we set off from London for a cycle to Brussels trailing through the French and Belgian heartlands, and a quick exploration of the Netherlands – prior to submitting our request to Mark Evison, all of us had never cycled more than 10km at one time and one person couldn’t ride a bike.
Day 1: London – Dover (130km) – riding up the mountainous English countryside and fields throughout the day. We were lost in the middle of a field at night, so our Dover host Jon saved us and told us how to escape, leading to an arrival time of 12am.
Day 2: Dover – Ingelmunster, Belgium (110km) – we indulged in exploration of French scenery and admiring Belgian towns.
Day 3: Ingelmunster – Terneuzen, the Netherlands (75km) – we crossed the Dutch border with the discovery of a stunning castle and a summary of what the Flemish regions had to offer; our hosts’ garden docked by a river with multiple kayaks!
Day 4: Terneuzen – Antwerp (60km) was the most relaxing, allowing for an abundance of time to explore and played games with our host (Tim) till midnight.
Day 5: Antwerp – Brussels (50km), the shortest but worst day arrived. Shortly after arriving in Brussels, a pedal fell off – but was welcomed by cyclists we met in Dover with French Fries! We were about to leave Brussels: the train wouldn’t let us on, the pedal was still broken, rebooking trains from Dunkirk to Calais, a ferry delay causing us to stay another night in Dover, UK Border Force stopping us and a tire cracking open on the ferry; we were once again saved by our Day 1 host, Jon – Thank you!
We arrived back into London more than half a day late, but ended off a successful trip happily – breaking our limits most people said we couldn’t. We felt extremely proud of how it went, illustrating resilience and the power of teamwork! Compared to a few months ago, this would have never been possible – now we have gained memories and friendships for a lifetime and some life skills.
