We did it - we hit our fundraising target, and we cycled to Paris!

If you're visiting this page for the first time, it's still not too late to make a donation using this site, so please give generously.

Thank you so much to all our sponsors, and to the Classic Tours team. We can't fault the organisation, or the humour and personalities of all involved, both organisers or participants.

Here's a short blog of the three days as they unfolded, for those who were interested. We'd thoroughly recommend this to anyone - there were some great causes supported, it's a real challenge, and tremendous fun.

Day 1

We've just arrived at the hotel in Dieppe at midnight having spent a gruelling day in the Sussex hills.

To make it a little more challenging Ben and I set off from home last night, rode the 10k to Birmingham International station, then got the train to London. At 10pm last night common sense was not with us so we decided to cycle through central and South London traffic (through some pretty dodgy districts, too) in the pouring rain for the 20ish k form Euston to our hotel near East Croydon station, finally getting to bed at about 12.30 after an hour making sure I'd posted the month end expenses receipts back to the boss in the office!

4 and a half hours later I was negotiating with the grumpiest teenager on the entire planet for him to get out of bed so we could leave at 5.45 in time for our rendezvous for the formal event registration at 6.30 a further 10ish k away (up that marvellous hill the big TV transmitters stand proudly on top of at Crystal Palace). So we'd done almost 40k before we even set off!

We arrived to a great atmosphere with over 80 people doing this event and superb organisation, also boosted by the fact that RNID was the biggest charity grouping there.

We eventually got moving on the event proper at about 7.45, much to the annoyance of the Friday morning south London rush hour, but within 20 minutes or so were in open countryside glad we'd remembered to slap on plenty of sun cream, although the rain eventually got us..

Breaks were regular during the day, and we both kept up nicely, remaining in the top third arrivals at each break point. There was some mumblings over the grasp the organisers had over the English language, telling us before we set off that the entire North and south Sussex downs were merely 'undulating'' but everyone eventually made to the Ferry at Newhaven in good time.

After a filling meal on the ferry and a couple of hours kip in a reclining chair (despite the best efforts of some extremely loud cackling french teenage girls a couple of rows in front), now feeling refreshed and ready for the bar!

Final thoughts for today - thank you SO MUCH to all the sponsors, but even more to Della for giving me a sample of anti-chafing gel and to the chemist in Knowle on Thursday who evangelised the merits of Aloe Vera gel!

A gentler day tomorrow - for one thing we don't leave until 10am and they've told us it's not as hilly. I just hope their descriptive capabilities have improved since this morning!

Day 2

A much more relaxed start to the day, which was desperately needed after the trials of the day before. Although despite having had an unbelievably long night's sleep, it still took four attempts to get Ben up in time. Eventually the risk of not having time for breakfast moved him!

After a breakfast fit for a king and  fixing a minor mudguard missing bolt on Ben's bike we were on our way around 10am.

As we wound our way out of Dieppe, there was a marked difference in courtesy between the French morning drivers of Normandy and the Chelsea tractors of the south London rush hour the day before.

It rained heavily for the first hour or so but this dampened no spirits as we cruised on wonderfully smooth roads mostly downhill to our first stop after around 15 miles. The rest of the morning went quickly (going downhill might have helped here) as the weather turned kind and by the time we had tackled the only serious uphill just before lunch we'd eaten up almost 40 k having barely noticed.

The afternoon blessed us with glorious weather and some wonderfully pretty french villages, the terrain was nice and easy going, and the road surface quality a dream to ride on, so lots of people got into cat and mouse short spurt racing modes, just for fun(!)

By 3.30 pm we were at the last stop with just 15k left to go and so buoyed up by the day that we even managed a beer before a few of us did a sprint challenge on the final leg, arriving at the hotel at a very respectable 5pm.

After showers, and another fabulous meal, nice and early to bed for the big (115k) day tomorrow. All in, a thoroughly enjoyable day.

Day 3

A blisteringly early start as we were woken by three successive phone calls at 6am and reminded that our luggage had to be on the van before breakfast at 6:30. We got moving at about 7:30, but only after more suspect use of the English language as Gideon announced that today would be "less flat".

He wasn't kidding either with four morning stretches varing in length between 12k and 24k, almost all of them with some arduous uphill stretches. Ben, strangely, seemed to have lost some of his "race everyone to the finish line" tendency during the course of the morning, still respectably arriving in the top 20 but putting away more energy boosting foods at the breaks than anyone thought possible.

I started to develop a sore right knee after the first session and progressed by mid morning to through ibuprofen gel, ibuprofen pills and paracetamol (at the instruction of the medic) onto a crepe bandage by the start of the last session before lunch. Other concerned participants on enquiry got the standard ("it's not too serious but it looks good, doesn't it") response. Good attention seeking though, if you like that sort of thing...

As we approached lunch it was obvious that we were getting closer to urban and suburban connerbations as the traffic got heavier and a lot less patient. We arrived at around 12:30 at a golf club for a fabulous lunch and the welcome news that there was just 40k to go to reach the Eiffel Tower! We rested well there, with several people even finding time for a short power nap before getting moving again around 2:00pm.

The afternoon seemed to go in no time at all as the first session after lunch, refreshed and relaxed, we had a good flat ride for an hour or so, before the final last climb in the outskirts of Paris before regrouping for our final recharge stop at the Bois de Boulogne.

There was a final quick regroup within site of the Eiffel Tower before the final 1k involved us all arriving, en masse, under the tower itself to a welcome of balloons and being sprayed with champagne as we crossed the finish line at 5pm on the dot.

As we enjoyed a celebratory glass of champagne, did the "photos thing", we were all exhausted, but exhilerated and delighted at the accomplishment of the physical challenge, but also buoyed up by the glorious Paris June afternoon, and the fact that together the 82 participants had raised over £130,000 for their respective charities!

"Apres-Ski"

After the bikes were loaded onto the van we were all bussed to the hotel just round the corner from the Bastille, and after quick showers recongregated in the Bar Cuba for a couple of refreshing beers before walking the short distance to the restaurant for our celebratory meal, where a fine time was had by all.

We had Monday off to relax (I couldn't manage to get Ben to appear until gone 10am, and once again it was the risk of missing breakfast that worked), and we had an enjoyable day wandering around Paris seeing some sights. Climbing the steps up to Sacre Coeur seemed like a good idea at the time, but really hurt after all that cycling!

We got the 5:15 Eurostar back to St Pancras and rounded off the weekend with a great social atmosphere as we were all booked into the same carriage. All in, a fantastic event, superbly organised. If you're thinking of doing something like this - go for it - it's an incredible experience, and you get to raise money for a good cause and make a real difference as well.

Thanks once again to all our sponsors, to Della for all her hard work in helping with the fundraising, and to Caroline for telling us to "go for it" in the first place.

Dave and Ben