A big thank you to all of you who donated to Inspired Living Cancer Research UK to support me for cycling from Winchester to Gibraltar.  What an amazing journey it was!  The total distance was 1277 miles of varied terrain from pan flat straight roads through France to the more scenic hills and mountains of Spain.  The total climbing was 13250 metres, or to put it another way, one and a half times the height of Mount Everest.  Donations and sponsorship for the continental ride have raised in excess of £50,000 so far.

Most of the way through France we had head winds and cross winds with some periods of heavy rain, but that didn’t dampen our spirits, the peloton just kept on rolling.  Almost immediately on crossing the border (well there wasn’t any evidence of the border)  into Spain we were treated to a 900 metre climb, and that set the tone of things for the next 8 days.  Some areas we passed through in Spain were very remote with 30 or 40 miles between the smallest of villages, many of which looked like they were straight out of an old Spaghetti Western.  Spain was generally hotter, with temperatures into the mid to upper 30s, apart from the penultimate day when we were caught high in the mountains by a thunderstorm, with lightning flashing all around us.  The final day to Gibraltar was the most scenic of the trip with craggy mountains and some great winding descents from over 1000 metres. On reaching Gibraltar many in the group talked about crossing the Straits and continuing south through Morocco, maybe next time!

 

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