Their story, in their words…
For our journey we did a 310km cycle from Cardiff to London across 3 days. I don’t know how, but we managed to have no mechanical issues or flats until the very end.
Day 1: After arriving a Paddington Station for 8:30 we took a 2-hour train to Cardiff Grand Central Station. The first 15/20km of the cycle was the least enjoyable as we had to ride through 2 major cities being Cardiff and Newport. Eventually, we were welcomed by the empty rolling hills of the Wales countryside with endless panoramic views for the next 80km. Lunch thankfully arrived where we stopped off at the perfect spot of Wye National Park next to a lovely river. Here we enjoyed the most delicious scrunched-up meal deal I think I will ever have in my life.
Looking back lunch took a little longer than it should have as it got to the point where we were racing to get to campsite before sunset and if it weren’t for clocks going an hour forward it may have been a different story cycling in the dark. As a result, there was no time to get our dinner to make a BBQ at the campsite so “unfortunately” we settled for some take away fish and chips.
Day 2: Though this was the longest day unanimously this was by far our favourite day of cycling. It amazed me just how beautiful the Cotswolds was I had to stop myself from wanting to take a picture every second. Furthermore, the roads were surprisingly empty meaning we could cycle as a three and talk a lot easier. The final push to Oxford couldn’t have felt any more gruelling and painful and once we stopped, the tiredness hit us all at once, and that night’s sleep was the best of the trip — deep, uninterrupted, and so relaxing.
Day 3: Probably, our least favourite of the three. To start with our legs were so fatigued and heavy, all we wanted was for it to be now over. Google maps was also a real let down as it kept on taking us through slow cycle paths along gravel, and at one point we even had to walk through a forest with no path to follow.
Unfortunately, we got stranded on the side of the road, with 15km left, due to one of the panya frames snapping and not being able to hold the bags anymore. After a brief discussion we decided to end the trip there and walk to the nearest train station to bring us to the finish line.
As a group through all the pain and struggle we loved it and made many lifelong memories. We all felt that being independent for those few days has matured us significantly and given us lifelong lessons on being able to organise, take care of ourselves, etc. We hope that we can do something similar again in the future.
