Together we raised over £12,500

I have just realised that we didn't put up the final figure as we had our final event, The Bohemian's playing at the Royal Spa Centre in Leamington Spa where over 400 people had a rocking night out, in February a month after our Just Giving site went off line. It really was quite fantastic to reach that amount as we didn't know it was possible when we started.

So thank you everyone who contributed and supported us. It was a stunning, magnificent effort and a thoroughly enjoyable and memorable year. It did make turning 52 a year to remember after all.

Back to the blog

It is nearly a year since the first adventure got started. Time has romped forward and no I am not cycling in India with the International Childcare this year but I am back in the fund raising business.

I am taking on a new adventure but with hopefully less physical activity. One of our most fun events that came out of the fund raising was our Cycling for Children event where over 60 children and their parents cycled up to 10 kms in Victoria Park one cold November morning and raised over £1200 for children in need. Everyone said how much they enjoyed it and looked forward to doing it again.

So on the strength of that and the goodwill of local sponsors we have scheduled the 27th September to cycle again. Inside of a context of having fun and creating a big game I am on a quest to find children, schools and communities around the globe who want to join us on that date and do the same thing in their towns and raise funds for a children's charity of their choice.

If your children, school community would like to participate contact me and lets cause children choosing charity and helping others.

The wheels are turning again!

Asante sana!

Friday 16th November: The project at Mumias. If cycling through Kenya had been a rollercoaster of one kind, visiting the project ICT was supporting at Mumias was a whole other experience. We left Kakamega late and rather the worse for wear after the previous night's celebrations, but the Kenyans had prepared about the best hangover cure imaginable. As we arrived at the project site in Mumias we were met by hundreds of children singing, beating drums, and waving flags and banners. It was a wonderful, moving and quite overwhelming experience. I don't think there was a dry eye on the bus. As we disembarked we were met by a host child (or more likely a group of children) who took our hands and led us to the entrance to the project, where we queued to sign the visitors book and then were guided to our seats for what followed.

The project we visited is a collaboration between ICT and WEAEP - Western Education, Advocacy and Empowerment Project, a Kenya-based, child-centred NGO. It is estimated that there are around 800,000 orphaned and vulnerable children in Kenya's Western Province. The aim of the Mumias project is to build a Child Protection and Community Centre, in ICT's words

to provide care and improve quality of life for orphans and vulnerable children suffering from extreme poverty, disease, abuse and neglect. When complete, the centre will provide access to basic rights and protection to 500 children and young people per year by offering: consultation and assessment of needs and aspirations; psychological therapy; legal advice and child protection; rescue services for girls abused by violence; linking orphans to foster parents/guardians; community training in child rights and protection; and integrate/place orphans and street children in formal education. The centre will provide vocational training to vulnerable youngsters at risk and provide toolkits for those who successfully complete their courses, enabling them to find work or become self-employed.

It sounds really worthwhile in the abstract, but to experience it is something else again. The shell and ground floor of the building have already been completed, helped by some of the money raised from ICT's Cycle Cambodia ride the previous year. Without doubt it will be the best building in the area - a real beacon of what is possible. But the project is so much more than just a building. Many of the children had T-shirts that had obviously been printed for our visit. On the back they said " Cycle Kenya Team 2007 - International Childcare Trust, and then below that "Thank you for giving me back my life". Needless to say that had us blinking away the tears again, because it wasn't hyperbole, it was true. The project and the Centre are an absolute lifeline for these children.

Our visit coincided with the official opening of the Centre, at which we were among the honoured guests. The centrepiece was a set of performances by children and women that the project had supported: a mix of songs, poetry and drama expressing aspects of their lives and their hopes for the future. Richard, ICT's wonderful chairman and our constant support and companion over the event planted a tree - a symbol of the project as a place of shelter - and then we were given a tour of the new building. Throughout the morning of our visit we continued to be moved by our experience of the children, the little boy with the big smile who had scarred himself by cutting words into the flesh of his arms and legs. Wonderful Valentine, a 14 year old AIDS orphan who lived with her aunt and dreamt of becoming a doctor. There were so many stories, and now so many memories that still have the power to move me to tears.

In the end it was all over too quickly. Another (foreshortened) game of soccer, a quick lunch and then on the bus to take us to our flight back to Nairobi. This turned into a very different kind of experience. Simon had worked out that our scheduled bus trip to Nairobi could easily take nine or ten hours, limiting our available time at the project and wiping out our plans for a celebration dinner on the last night that we would be all together, so we had agreed to pay the extra to charter a bus to the nearest airport and then take the half hour flight to Nairobi. The bus arrived on time, and we set off, with the driver assuring us that he would take us on a shortcut away from the main road that would have us at the airport in an hour. Yeah right as we Kiwis say. What followed was the hairiest hour and three-quarters you would want to experience on four wheels as we flew over dirt roads going through god knows where. At one point we stopped in a village and a package was unloaded off the bus and a group of locals tried to get on to our already full bus, while Simon went ballistic and physically barred the door! It was pretty clear that, hire or no hire, the bus crew had their own agenda as well - another example of the differences between the African and Eurpean way! We did finally make the airport, with about twenty minutes to spare. Simon and Kate sprinted off to get our tickets... and found that the flight had been delayed by half an hour.

The rest of the journey back to Nairobi and our hotel was uneventful. By 9.30pm we were settled in "Carnivore" - a bit of a Nairobi landmark - but probably not the first choice of restaurant for two vegetarians :-). We finally collapsed into bed at about 2.00am, conscious that we had another early start on Saturday, as we had signed up to spend our last morning in Africa on safari in Nairobi National Park - 64 square kms of reserve just 20 minutes outside the city.

We have gained so much from this challenge. We’ve made great new friends, developed muscles that we never knew existed, and above all experienced being in Kenya, the joy of the children, and the generous welcome of so many people who stopped to wave and shout "jambo" as we cycled past. We’ve been contributed to by our many friends and supporters here in England and abroad. We’ve held fun fund raising events and now we are exploring how to create a legacy for the future, by creating a trust after our first annual ‘Cycling for children’ event, where children from 5years old to 11 came out with their parents on a sponsored cycle ride. Its been an extraordinary journey - both physically and emotionally. Asante sana Kenya! Thank you very much ICT!

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.