The final stretch

Thursday 15th November - Eldoret to Kakamega (105 kms) Our last day in the saddle started on the busiest roads so far, but it also meant that the riding was fast and we were through the first twenty kms in not much over the hour. Julian was back on his bike but it looked like his run of bad luck might continue, as a bee got caught in his helmet and stung him on the forehead just before the first stop! (In fact his was just the first - Andrew and Ash both got stung on the next section.)

After the break we continued on the main road, which was now carrying quite a lot of traffic, particularly the infamous matutus - local minbuses which act as a cheap taxi service - some of them were really friendly but others tended to drive like they are the only ones on the road. Worse though were the lorries whose drivers seemed to have very little regard for human life at all. If you were where they wanted to be that was your problem. Fortunately no one was really injured, but a couple of the team ended up coming off their bikes as lorries brushed against them or forced them off the tarmac.

There was another unexpected challenge on the last big hill before lunch. On the up side the tarmac had melted and the weight of lorries pressing into it had created deep vertical grooves up the hill. These were smooth enough to ride in, but in some places too deep to get out of easily if a lorry decided it wanted your bit of space - which is what happened to me! As I tried to pull over, my pedal hit the rim of one of these grooves, and I was tipped off - sideways towards the edge of the road fortunately - and without too much damage to me or the bike. Once you got over the top of the hill, however, another surprise presented itself: here the tarmac had also melted and then reformed in waves and ripples down a stretch of the hill. Julian had been riding in peleton with some of the guys and hit this patch at speed. He is still not sure how he and the bike stayed together!

Shortly afterwards we turned off the main road, with some relief, and started down a quieter road towards Kakamega and the rainforest. But still Cycle Kenya wasn't going to relent; we now had to contend with nearly 40 kms of broken asphalt. Imagine a road that has had the top layer skimmed off and replaced, and then half of that top layer has broken away, leaving a bumpy and uneven surface. The sensation started off as unpleasant and just got worse - wrists and bum took on a relentless ache; fingers started to tingle with the vibration. You started to search out the better patches of road, or look for ridable stretches of dirt at the roadside - anything for a bit of relief. Finally we hit the outskirts of Kakamega - more traffic but a better surface again! And suddenly it was all over - a group of cyclists at a road junction, hugging each other and cheering each new arrival. Then a ragged peleton of 37 riders up the last short stretch of road to our hotel. We arrived and someone spotted the swimming pool. Soon - much to the bemusement of the local welcoming committee - we were all in the pool, fully clothed, laughing and cheering each jump, bomb or collapse into the water. Then the first round of the inevitable Tuskers arrived, before dinner, when we discovered we were all kings and queens of something, and then the partying really began... We'd done it!

Life at the top

(picture courtesy of Andrew Cole)

Kenya Day 5: The big hill

Wednesday 14 November: Kabernet to Eldoret (88kms)

This was it, our biggest challenge of the challenge! We started off by driving 40 kms up to the village of Kabernet which was to be the start point of today's ride across the Rift Valley. The road to Kabernet itself gave us some spectacular views as we climbed to over 2000 metres before stopping close to the start of our 18km descent to the floor of the valley. The descent itself had some heart-stopping moments. Though the road surface, thankfully, was pretty good, there were a couple of tight turns and one stretch of steep descent where the road just seemed to disappear over the brow of the hill. The views (when you had a moment to admire them) were also pretty stunning. After the fastest 18 kms I've ever done, the section across the "flat" valley floor came as a bit of a surprise: most of it was in fact uphill. There were some stretches that were really deceptive, where your eyes were telling you it was level, or even slightly downhill, but your legs were convinced you were going up - a strange sensation that had a few of us checking our bikes and wondering why it seemed like such hard work!

There was no sign of Julian at the first stop, and it was only later that I found out he'd had trouble right from the start. Our bikes had been reassembled at the top of the hill, and soon after starting off, he had discovered that the stem had not been tightened down properly and was loose and giving off quite a lot of vibration. Not surprisingly he stopped and had to wait (no allen key!) for one of the mechanics from the ground crew to come and fix his bike before setting off down the hill. Consequently despite pushing the pace along the bottom of the valley he was about half an hour behind the main group at the first stop.

The climb up the Elgeyo Escarpment began in earnest soon after the first stop. Simon had warned us that the first part would be the toughest, and we would gain a kilometre in vertical height over the first 15 kms of the climb. He wasn't kidding! By this time it was also getting very hot. In fact it got up to about 35 degrees while we were on the Escarpment - the hottest day of the challenge so far. Five or six kilometres up the hill and we had the opportunity for another break. I'd just about had enough, but both Kate and Julian had been willing me on, so I got on the bike again, and started on the next section, which seemed even steeper than the last. I gave it a go, but really did not have the power in my legs anymore. I had to stop, tears running down my cheeks, while 'Dr Raph' put his arm round my shoulder and helped me onto the bus.

Last time I'd seen Julian at the break he seemed tired but still pretty strong, so it was a bit unexpected to come around a corner about 10 kms up the hill to see him off his bike and sitting on a rock by the roadside. Raphael got off the bus to see what was up, and next thing they were putting his bike on the bus and Julian was climbing on board. Apparently he'd suddenly started to feel quite strange and shivery - which he realised was more than a bit odd in the heat. Raphael immediately identified exhaustion - Julian's sugar levels had dropped so low that he was hypoglaecemic and couldn't continue. He reckoned that the early push to catch up with the group and the hurried break, when he'd eaten and drunk very little, had taken a greater toll than he'd realised. So there we both were on the bus and only half way up the hill. Not exactly what either of us had planned!

We stayed on the bus until the lunch stop, and Dr Raph said he'd check us out after lunch. The great news was that everyone else had made it up the hill - a fantastic effort by the team!

After lunch it was decided we were both back on the bus until the next stop. Becky was also to join us, suffering from mild exhaustion too. The worst of the climb was over, but there was still over 30 kms left to ride, and at least the general direction was mostly downhill now. In fact Becky and I rejoined the team before the next break and carrried on riding through to the end. Julian however still wasn't fit. His blood pressure had been high after lunch and he now had a tension headache, so Raphael decreed that was the end of his cycling for the day.

We finally pulled into the town of Eldoret at about 6.00pm, but Kenya still had one stunt to pull on us. Despite having confirmed our booking that morning, our hotel - The Sirikwa - had double booked and so we had no accommodation! A rather fraught and increasingly frustrating two and half hours followed - slightly mitigated by a free drink and a not very good dinner at what was supposed to be 'our' hotel - until the head of our ground crew, William, got back with alternative accommodation. So it was that we found ourselves in an Inn on the edge of town, charging the equivalent of £5 per night(!!) for bizarrely decorated rooms and some very basic plumbing! Frankly, though by the time we got to our room we were pretty much past caring, and just fell into bed. Here endeth the longest day. Breakfast at the Sirikwa was pretty rubbish the next morning too. Best hotel in Eldoret? Maybe, but we certainly won't be going back!

Kenya Day 4

Tuesday 13th Nov: Nyahururu to Lake Nakuru (58 kms)

We started the morning on foot, taking a short walk from the lodge to see the fabulous Thompsons Falls, the highest waterfall in Kenya. It was grey and very misty to start with, but the mist started to clear while we were at the viewpoint to give us some fabulous glimpses of the falls. After that we mounted up for our morning's ride, as this afternoon we were transfering by bus to our hotel, ready for our big (second)crossing of the Rift Valley on Wednesday. But today was to be our first encounter with the great rift that bisects most of the sub-continent. This morning's ride started on really good roads and everyone was just flying along. We had our first stop at the Subuku viewpoint, with breathtaking views across the Rift Valley. From there it was an easy, but fast descent to the valley floor, and across, before the pull up the other side, about a 3-4 km steady climb, followed by a bit of a breathing space before another short steep incline.

We took a second break by a tea plantation - a huge field of tea bushes across the top of the hill. At most of the breaks we had a small group of onlookers, but with the proximity of the plantation we soon acquired a larger group, including a gaggle of children who were fascinated by our digital cameras and loved having their photos taken.

At the break a few of the faster guys teamed up with Simon, and taking advantage of the Kenyan police motorcyclist we had with us, set off to complete the ride in a peleton. They went flying past Julian first, who was out on the road with Duncan at the time. He tried to follow, but just could not get on to their tail. I had been one of the first to set off after the break, but they passed me too just a couple of kilometres before our lunch stop. At some points they really were moving, apparently the policeman with them clocked their top speed at about 74 kph!

After lunch we boarded the bus to transfer about 100km north to our hotel on the shore of Lake Baringo, the most northerly of the Rift Valley lakes. It turned out to be a pretty eventful trip. The "main road" from the town of Nakuru to Baringo is pretty basic, and as it nears the lake it sits in the lea of a range of volcanic mountains. In the rainy season there must be a lot of water coming down off the hills, and at a couple of places flash flooding had obliterated the road. At one point, where a bridge had been washed out, Joseph our driver had to manouevre the bus, at times leaning at a rather alarming angle, down a bank on to the river bed (virtually dry - fortunately) and drive along the river until we could get up the other side and rejoin the road! It was well worth the ride though, as Lake Baringo itself was beautiful, and the hotal was probably the nicest we stayed in - it was pretty new, with a lovely foyer and bar area that was roofed over in dark wood but open at the front to give a view over the lake to Ol Kokwe Island. We even managed to get hot water out of our shower - a bit of a rarity - and were entertained by Masai dancers at dinner.

But the real highlight of the evening was a soccer match that the guys had managed to arrange with the village next to our hotel. The pitch was some way from the village, and as it had taken us longer to negotiate the roads than we'd anticipated, it was getting towards dusk when the game started. The 'pitch' was huge and mostly dirt, with the odd patch of grass. Its probably fair to say that what the game lacked in finesse it made up for in passion, and the local team came away worthy winners. It was really moving to see how much our participation meant to the village. As one of their players said "this is a story I will be able to tell my grandchildren". By the time the game ended it was already getting quite dark and everyone hurried to leave. This, we discovered, was because the pitch got taken over at night by a local hippo who wasn't too keen on sharing his space with people!

Talking to one of the local school teachers, we also got to see the other side of life by the lake, and how little benefit the local people got from the hotel and the developing tourism on their doorstep. Some local people had got work in the hotel, but many of the staff were outsiders. The villagers had little contact normally with the tourists who came to the area, and in fact had lost business because the hotel had its own boat to take people across to the island, and so the community boat was used less than before the hotel had been built. Walking back through the village with the local children holding our hands, I think we approached our hotel with rather more mixed feelings than when we had first arrived.

Back to Kenya: Day 3

Monday 12th November: Nyeri to Nyahururu (101 kms)

The day started with the already customary 6.30 wake-up call and a cooked breakfast to load up on carbs ready for our first serious test of the week. While there were no really big hills today, the route, taking us along the edge of the Aberdare mountains, climbed steadily over the course of the day with an overall height gain of over 500 metres, giving us our highest finishing point of the week, at Thompsons Falls Lodge, 2336m - or over 7000ft above sea level.

We started out by retracing our steps through Nyeri - back down the hill we had crawled up the previous evening. The roads were pretty good and we were soon riding over open savannah. This probably makes the ride sound easier than it was. The road was far from level, but more a series of steady climbs and descents. Soon the downhills no longer felt like a relief, but just a prelude to the next up. Unfortunately, as the morning progressed, the weather deteriorated and we were faced (literally!) by high winds and heavy rain. By lunchtime, waterproofs or not, everyone was wet and cold. This was not the weather we were expecting in Kenya!! Fortunately the weather improved over lunch, drying out socks and shirts - but not squelchy cycling shoes - before we set off for the afternoon's ride. The weather held for the afternoon, and, but for one long but not particularly severe climb of 12 kms, the cycling was pretty good. After struggling with the weather in the morning Julian did really well and was among the first dozen to reach our destination around 5.30 pm, by which time one of the team - Andrew - had already ordered in a crate of "Tusker" beers to celebrate our arrival! The lodge we were staying in was an old colonial building, single story and mostly wood and brick. Given the weather and the altitude it was cold too, and we were delighted when staff came round to light fires in the bedrooms. Everyone was feeling tired that night after the combination of "relentless" hills (thanks John), bad weather and the distance. Raphael, our wonderful Kenyan doctor, and Gareth, a physio who was also on the challenge, set up a treatment room after dinner and spent an hour or more treating and massaging sore legs, necks and shoulders. It was good to climb into bed that night - even if the bedding was all a bit damp!

"The King" sighted in Warwick!

Massive thanks to Kate and (many) friends for organising and supporting our celebratory fundraising Elvis night at the the Nelson Club in Warwick last night. It really was a ball, and the combination of Elvis, an auction of gifts and promises and a charity raffle had everyone digging deep. So much so that we look set to add over £1,000 to the total money raised for ICT. Many, many thanks to Elvis (Steve) for donating his services free, to the Nelson Club for the use of their function room and to Emma P. for all her support too. And tomorrow sees our kids cycling event taking place in Victoria Park, Leamington. Its all go!

We've done it!

We arrived back on Sunday from Kenya after an amazing and truly challenging trip having made a group of wonderful new friends - the Cycle Kenya Team 2007 (pictured courtesy of Gareth Roblin) and been completely moved and inspired by ICTs work in Kenya. As promised Julian and I will try to recreate our cycling adventure day by day over the next few pages.

We left Heathrow on Friday evening and arrived in Nairobi early last Saturday morning. We'd already met Simon and Kate our "Action Challenge" reps and most of the team at Heathrow. At Nairobi we met up with our bus and some of the 'ground crew' (led by William) who would be supporting us throughout the ride. We than had a long drive (197kms) to our first night's accommodation at the Sportsman's Arms Hotel in Nanyuki. Here we spent the afternoon getting our bikes reassembled and otherwise sorted out for our first day's cycling, before relaxing in the pool and having dinner and (in our case at least) a relatively early night!

Sunday 11 Nov: Nanyuki to Nyeri (61 kms)

This was our first day in the saddle and was intended as a relatively gentle warm-up ride. We were all conscious that Monday was going to be our first long ride of the challenge. The roads out of Nanyuki were pretty good - reasonably level without any really significant hills. It was soon apparent that we had some good cyclists in the group, and we became quite spread out, though even those of us at the back were making pretty good time.

Each day's ride was split up into sections with breaks to take on more water, bananas, biscuits and fruit. Lunchtimes also fell into a regular pattern; the ground crew would find a spot, pitch a marquee for us and another smaller one for the cooks. By the time we arrived a substantial hot meal would be well on the way. We usually had between one and two hours for lunch - giving us time to load up on carbs and digest some of it before we moved off again!

Today's lunch stop was in a clearing surrounded by bush - some of the biggest eucalyptus I've ever seen. We also saw our first bit of wildlife - a couple of hornbills flying around the trees while we were eating - fantastic!

Straight after lunch we had our first taste of a steep climb out of the valley - the first three kilometres or so were the worst, winding up the hillside, before levelling out for a while. Just as we thought the worst was over there was another, shorter descent followed by a climb up into the village of Nyeri. This hill caught a few of us out, as it didn't seem to start off particularly steeply, but next thing you knew you were in completely the wrong gear and battling to find the right one! Thankfully we had a break near the top, at the English cemetry, where Robert Baden-Powell and his wife Olave are buried, with a view across to Mount Kenya (not that we could see it). Then it was on to our hotel, perched on the top of yet another short but steep climb!

Counting the hours now....

So here we are after months of training and raising money we are heading off tomorrow. I arrived back on tuesday from the USA after attending a training weekend in Denver for the Team, Management and Leadership Course I am currently participating in and had the enormous pleasure of spending five days before that with my son Daniel, his lovely wife Brandy and my fabulous grand daughters Kayenta and Jade in Seattle.

So sounds like a jetsetting life but actually just up to having my life work so I can be in Kenya this weekend knowing that everything I promised has been managed. Bound to find out that I missed something.

Julian has been great handling all the bits and pieces like the inner tubes and extra gear that we need and the paracetomol and vaseline etc. We look like a travelling pharmacy.

And its not going to get any less busy when we get back. We have both our Elvis night and the cycling event in Leamington happening within a week of our return. Pictured are some of the kids who will be taking part, together with Stephen, our local Community Support Officer who has been so supportive in helping us plan the Victoria Park event.