Day 8 & 9 - home time

After the elation of finishing the ride, we had a relatively quiet rest of trip.
Saturday morning was spent by the hotel pool. Some played water volleyball, whilst others just enjoyed the sun and the relaxation time.

After lunch we got back on the coach for a 6 hours trip back to Cairo. I think a lot of us used this time to relect on what we'd achieved. I had planned on selling my bike when I got home, but found myself wanting to go for a ride - I don't think my body would have allowed it, but mentally I wanted to!
Once at our final hotel, we had yet more food before our final early night.
We were up at half 5 again to ensure we were back at the airport in time for our 9:20 flight home. The flight was, again, delay but only by half an hour this time. It was a slightly longer flight home and with the mood a bit more subdued there was more 'I-spy' than 'getting to know you' going on, but still fun!!
One slight downer, was that Andy became ill around an hour before we were due to land at Heathrow. Fortunately Doctor Brian was still on hand and ensured that he was well taken care of, even if the airplane didn't have any of the necessary equipment he needed. We heard afterwards that Andy recovered after a couple of days.
Another downer was that a few of our bags were 'mislaid' once we arrived at Heathrow, which meant that some people missed their connections home. On the plus side, it gave us a bit more time together and we had relaxed farewells.

It was wonderful to see Graham after being apart for over a week and, yes, there were a few tears. I think they became tears of boredom on his part after a while though - I didn't shut up on the way home!!!
All in all and to summarise - I had the most amazing, toughest, brilliant and worthwhile week of my life. I would highly recommend it to anyone, no matter what age or current physical ability. If you have the drive to get fit for charity and to have the best experience of your life, then go for it.
If not, then make sure you sponsor me for either this trip, link below, or the next Big Heart Bike Ride which is taking place in Tanzania in June 2011 - yes, I've decided to do it all again!!!
My final thanks for everyone who has sponsored me, supported me in whatever way, and to all my new friends who did the ride - I love you all (need to go now, as it's all got far too soppy!!!!) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Day 7 - 5th, and final, day of cycling

So, the final day of cycling had arrived. 60km to the finish. Easy, surely?!?!?! Erm, not exactly!!!
Now, some people had their difficult day on the Wednesday, some Thursday, but mine was to arrive today, Friday.
Thursday had ended on such a high and with a real feeling of 'finish' that it was difficult to get back on the bike again for the final day. Also a lot of us had got into our head that the final day would be pretty straight forward, a formality if you will. But no.

The final day consisted of many, many hills (not the 3 Theo, our leader, had advised) and they weren't the kind of hills I was used to riding - the short, sharp, over quite quickly kind of hill, but the long, never ending kind of hill!!!
To add the many hills, we had the mother of all head winds. Never have I experience anything like it, nor do I wish to again. It was a case of cycle up a hill, rejoice, but then cycle down hill (coz the wind was too strong to free wheel), oh and there's another hill!!!
It was truly demoralising. I found myself cycling alone and could see yet another hill in front of me and just broke down in tears. I didn't realise that just 200 yards away the group had stopped for a break. I couldn't stop crying and had to turn up to the rest of the group in tears. Fortunately, pretty much everyone on the ride had experienced a moment like this, so people were so kind. I also wasn't the only one to be having a 'moment' at this particular stop.
Mike, one of the Welsh contingency, very kindly offered to be my wind break for the final leg of the ride. I stuck to his wheel for the next 12km. He sheilded me from the wind and I just followed his back wheel up every, intense, hill. Mike is a very capable cyclist and could have finished the ride in the top few riders, but he very selflessly kept me going. I truly don't think I'd have finished the ride without him. I so didn't want to get in the van and he helped me achieve that, so thank you Mike.

We had lunch at the top of a fjord, just 1.5km from the end. The view was stunning and the sense of relief and achievement was huge.

Once lunch was done, we completed the 1.5km downhill as a group to the finish line. We had people from the hotel out on the road to welcome and applaud us in and we were given medals and bubbly.




Once the saddles and pedals were off the bikes, it time to get all showered and dressed up for our celebratory evening. We had a lovely meal in the hotel restaurant before retiring to the bar for the evening's entertainment.
Paul Smith sang a beautiful, unaccompanied version of Bring Him Home, followed by the Welsh boys, and Paul, who did a parody of Guide Me O' Thy Great Redeemer which included all the highlights of the week (including PJ putting deep heat on his bruise which worked it's way up his leg to his 'man bits'!)

James then made the entire room cry by reading a fantastic poem written by his mate Melissa about their friend Abuka who had passed away the year previous.
Rachel then summed the show up with a wonderful poem she'd written over the past 24 hours which included every person in the group seemlessly.

After the formal proceedings we then danced the rest of the night away - well until about midnight! The boys then found a football pitch and proceeding to play 3 aside until around 3 in the morning!!! You'd think they hadn't just cycled 420km!!!
All in all a wonderful day with so many mixed emotions!

Day 6 - 4th day of cycling

Day 4 of cycling started with the climb up Mount Sinai for some of the group. I opted for a lie in and the chance of actually completing the 105km of day 4! We set off around half 9 and it was clear from the start that this was a different day from the other we'd encountered so far. From the off there were proper hills that you'd encounter back here but then they became very long and intense hills and with the added head wind, it didn't make for enjoyable cycling.

Everyone was becoming weary today, not really surprisingly, and at the top of the last hill of the day everyone was cheering each other on to the top. There was a real group spirit and atmosphere. From here we had a 13km downhill to the hotel. Naturally the boys just let their bikes do the work whilst keeping their heads down while the rest of us just took it easy. It was a tad scary and I did apply the brakes where necessary, most of the time, but we all got down safely and in the daylight.
The hotel had a party atmosphere too. There was a beach bar and the sea was 'just there'. It was very relaxed and really felt like the end of the ride.

We also had entertainment from our guides, which was slightly amusing and I made sure I kept well clear so I couldn't be roped into anything!!! We all finished Thursday on a high - which made Friday harder.......