Their story, in their words…
It was an enormous challenge, which we only fully comprehended when we were halfway to Brighton. The expedition provided us with a sense of independence that we have never experienced ever. This was because we have never left the country on our own before, so problem solving and looking after ourselves was a very important lesson, in us growing up as well. Also, the determination and perseverance to keep going was remarkable from all 4 of us. Physically it made our legs and backs very tired, but the mental battle was far harder due to the heat and the time per day cycling. The determination we all showed, particularly on the final day was extraordinary.
We knew on the 5th September we had to get our exhausted bodies up to complete a 90 miles, 9 hour cycle to Paris, but by 13:00 PM, having gotten lost in the 36 degrees weather for an hour we had lunch at a garage station and realised we had 75 miles left to complete. At this point, morale was low, but we pulled ourselves together and reached a level we had never reached before, taking smaller breaks and longer cycles, we arrived at the arc de triumph at 21:00, which was a huge effort from us all, and we all feel proud of ourselves as a result. Jack, Arthur, Sam, Harry
3rd of Sep, Day 1: Spirits were high, and we cycled along lovely countryside roads on the way to Brighton in the afternoon, and the weather was really nice (not too hot, not too old), and we had dinner in Brighton and stayed the night at Anthony’s house who was very kind. 4th of Sep, Day 2: the early morning cycle to Newhaven was nice and cool, a bit foggy, but the weather was nice. The cycle itself was not too tiresome except for some major hills. We got on the ferry, and arrived at Rouen in the afternoon, and we were all really excited to be in a new country.
The initial hills were enormous and the toughest of the trip, but the cycles once we left Dieppe were much smoother and we got to Rouen in the evening and had dinner in Rouen. This cycle was very tough mentally as were beginning to feel mentally exhausted. We stayed with a kind man called Alexis.
5th of Sep, Day 3: The next morning we were so tired, we woke up quite late and did not leave until 10:30, we knew this was the hardest cycle to come and by lunch time we still had 70 miles left to cycle in 36 degrees Celsius weather. This was a worry, and we knew we would not arrive in Paris until late into the evening. But we got into a habit of doing 5-minute breaks and 10 miles per 50 mins, and we slowly edged closer towards Paris along a beautiful route along the River Seine.
We cycled for 2 hours around the outskirts of Paris at night before eventually turning a corner and seeing the Eiffel tower all lit up. We took pictures outside the arc de triomphe, then headed another 2 miles to Susannah’s apartment, who kindly waited up for us. 6th of Sep, Day 4: a 7-hour gruelling trip home on ferry and train, was tough as well, but when we returned home to our families, the trip felt enormously fulfilling.
