Pedalling from Paris to Hayling!
Our congratulations and grateful thanks are due to Mellum Golding who has recently completed a cycle ride from Paris to Hayling and raised no less than £530 for The Rosemary Foundation. We just hope she is not too sore!
We have since received a report from Mellum which is just too good to edit! She writes :
It all started back in February with an e-mail from a friend – “do you fancy joining us??” and that was to enter the London to Brighton Bike ride, 21st June.
54 miles !!! I’ll never do that, not without some serious serious training.
I coerced Judy into joining me as she was already in training for the Paris to Hayling ride.
April dawned and only 10 more weeks to go. Training had so far been some forays to Petersfield to pick up some forgotten item on the grocery list. It was always a toss up as to whether to go back home via the ‘big’ hill from Stroud to Ramsdean or the uphill slog, along the old A3 and then the up-hill lane past Bo-Beep pond. They were all big hills in those days.
An invite from Judy, to join the Ditcham Team on their Paris to Hayling training sessions couldn’t be passed up. I had no connections with Ditcham but they all made me feel very welcome. I thought how very professional they all looked, with their road bikes, map holders, cycling shorts and tops. There was me with my trusted hybrid, fat tyres and a pocket for the route notes.
All of a sudden I was doing 30 miles, then 40 and even a few 50 plus mile rides. I was going to absolutely fly the London to Brighton ride. Before I knew it, it was all over and I felt slightly deflated. No excuse now to go out on a Sunday morning with a great like-minded group of mad cyclists. And then a chance to go. Shall I? Shan't I? Yes I will. But only 10 days to go before going on a 285 mile ride through France in 3.5 days.
First off, some sponsorship was needed. East Meon villagers came up trumps and were incredibly generous with their donations to the Rosemary Foundation.
My bike needed a couple of refinements and what on earth was I going to carry all my stuff in? Stuff that I couldn’t possibly do without while cycling through France. Somewhere for a 2nd water bottle, food, camera, hairbrush, nail file !!!! and the list went on. Bingo! There, on the internet, was a waterproof bag to go on the front of the bike and it had a map holder as well. Settled.
All of a sudden, my in-basket grew and grew and dozens of e-mails came in with details of the ride and what I should be taking with me. A trip to Boots took care of most of it. Things I’d never heard of and things I never knew I needed. It was also an excuse to buy some proper cycling gear and try and look as professional as the Ditcham Team on that first day I’d met them.
I was joining a total of 140 riders, some doing the six-day ride and others, like me, doing the three and a half day ride. There were groups of friends doing it, single riders, tandems, mountain bikes, fathers and sons, grandparents, and the largest group of all, the Ditcham Team – a group of 21 Ditcham boys and girls and us, 17 adults who shared the same passion as the youngsters for cycling, along with Guy who cycled over 400 miles with a trailer and ‘dog’, raising money for canine partners.
Departure day dawned. Luckily enough I could work from home that day. I’d packed the night before, cooked up a batch of oat bars and made sure I had a supply of coffee even though we were going to one of the coffee centres of the world. Who knew how close our hotels were to civilisation and a French café? Can’t start the day without a coffee or two.
We met at the Billy on HaylingIsland, where our bikes were loaded onto a lorry and we boarded the coach to Portsmouth. Organisation of the ride was second to none. Everything went very smoothly, registration took place, passports collected, last minute goodbyes and we were off.
But to cope with my first challenge and that was the ferry and coach ride to France. I DO NOT TRAVEL WELL. As it turned out, a double dose of sea-sickness tablets, a not-so-bad French beef stew and a brandy, just to settle the stomach, enabled an incident free, overnight channel crossing. Excitement was probably also a factor in the equation.
We were due to meet the other 6-day riders at lunchtime and cycle from Chateau Gontier to Angers – just a mere 30 miles. That afternoon took me by surprise. What with little sleep on the ferry and only a catnap on the coach, the first hill seemed very daunting. It wasn’t even a big hill but when you have got off the coach and almost straight on to your bike, with no flat road for a warm up, my legs were screaming at me that they were not in the mood. Thank goodness we didn’t have far to go on that first day.
The next day, the first full day, was undoubtedly the best day for weather and scenery. We cycled from Angers to Tours, 80 miles along the Loire valley. It was all relatively flat but temperatures reached as high as 100 degrees. We would have struggled if it wasn’t for the fantastic support cars. They were manned by volunteers, most of whom had done the ride on other years so knew all the various emotions and brick walls we were experiencing. Their encouragement, along with chocolate bars, an assortment of sweets, crisps and drinks, was what was needed to get you through the ride. There were some amazing and uplifting sights to see along the way. We cycled through some very pretty villages, adorned with hanging baskets and flower boxes. We caught glimpses of far-off chateaux and were lucky enough to pass close enough to some to have a picture stop.
Lunch had all been organised for us. We arrived in all sorts of different groups and different times but that didn’t phase this restaurant at all - within minutes of arriving, le plat du jour was served with some very welcome large bottles of coke. I never thought I could eat a big lunch and still be ready to cycle another 40 odd miles to that day’s destination.
The mid-morning coffee and patisserie stops were the best. You might be inclined to think this was a gourmet trip we were doing and not a charity ride but I assure you that it was a seriously undertaken event to raise money for your chosen charity and we had fun at the same time.
So, the first full day was under our belts and we needed to look forward to the next day – the longest day of 100 miles and the hilliest day. Weather forecasts were watched and we expected the worst. Heavy rainfall, some hailstorms, along with strong northerly winds had all been forecast around our route from Tours to Alencon.
We came off lightly as far as the rain went but I battled all day with the constant head-on or side-winds. I hit a great many brick walls that day. The camera didn’t come out once and on several occasions I was tempted to ditch my wonderful waterproof bike bag. It was the worst thing I could have put on my already weighty bike. I learnt a lesson that day to travel light. I had to keep reminding myself that I too now had some of the professional looking clothing and the pockets on the back of the shirts were there for a purpose!!!!
It was also the day where a story was written that has to be the story of the ride. Not just the 2009 ride but of all the rides in the history of the Hayling to Paris bike ride. It happened to one of the Ditcham boys and I am sure his grandchildren will still be telling the story to their grandchildren in years to come.
The story unfurls in a corner of rural France. The weather was pretty foul and a group of youngsters were out on their bikes, cycling on a 100 mile ride, all in the name of charity. For some unknown reason, a peaceful looking herd of cows decided to stampede at the exact moment that Freddie and co were cycling past their field. There was no apparent fence between these rampaging cows and the road and Freddie, luckily for him, was knocked flying. I say ‘luckily’ as the bike was then completely trashed by the cows’ thunderous hooves. Freddie suffered some cuts and bruises but was more upset at the damage to his treasured bike, destined for the scrap heap. A spare bike enabled him to continue, very resiliently, the next day.
The third day dawned and this was fancy dress day. Not compulsory thank goodness. It took all my energies and concentration to do the ride, never mind worrying about fancy dress. There were some very entertaining ‘costumes’, the most memorable, for me, being the clowns, one of who was still pulling his trailer and dog, and then there were the two bumble bees, complete with wings and antennae.
My learnt lesson came into play and I consigned my bike bag to my luggage, which meant my route notes were back in my pocket!
Highlights of the day were lunchtime and the finish. Lunch time, as we had a highly amusing and entertaining restaurant owner ensuring that we were well fed and watered and we had an almost ringside view of the local weddings’ processions through the town, all to a glorious backdrop of the cathedral. The sun was shining and life was good.
The finish was just brilliant. No fanfare but just an amazing sense of achievement and sheer exhaustion. The night before, at the end of the 100 mile day, my cycling partner and I got gloriously lost in Alencon and spent over an hour cycling up, and I mean UP, and down roads looking for the hotel. Not the best way to end such a long day. I really did not want a repeat performance when arriving in Caen.
My left and rights get reversed when under pressure and this was a pressurised situation for me. About 12 miles out from the finish, at the last pit stop, we met up with Mark & Bridget. Mark is a teacher and I figured he wouldn’t be getting lost. We tucked up behind them and they ‘pulled’ us into Caen, a lot faster than if we had been cycling on our own. I was determined not to lose them. It was exhausting as they are both very good cyclists and pushing along faster than we would have gone. It proved to be a wise move as Mark brought us into Caen very expertly, through dozens of roundabouts, junctions and traffic lights, without one wrong move.
There is a bar in Caen, whose takings must have gone up quite considerably that Saturday evening when 140 odd cyclists finished their ride.
A champagne reception and dinner had been organised for us at the Castle and all that remained for us to do was to cycle 10 miles, the next day, to catch the ‘fast cat’ back to Portsmouth.
Nobody had told me how the high speed catamaran is colloquially known and that day’s crossing proved it was a well earned nickname. Once in Portsmouth and feet firmly back on terra firma, I lost that green tinge and all that was left to do was to navigate our way through Portsmouth to pick up the Hayling ferry and cycle to HaylingCollege to be collected.
What an experience! My thanks to Rob, my husband, for all his support; to the Ditcham Team and Will for making me so welcome and to the organisers of the ride who put in a huge amount of time and effort and who run a very slick organisation. It is worth a visit to the web site to read all about the ride, organisation and charities that benefit from the event.
http://www.hayling-cycle-ride.org.uk/