All set - 1 day to go

At 15:00 tomorrow we’ll set off from Streatley and with luck and a following wind in the early evening of Friday 11th June we’ll to be bumping down the narrow backstreets of Venice to our final hotel after over 1,000 miles of unsupported cycling. We’ve taken it easy this week, no cycling apart from a very gentle 50 miler last Saturday, our attention has been on final planning for the trip. The final route is:

A-B Streatley to Portsmouth
62 miles 2,146 ft. climb
C-D Caen to Dourdan
140 miles 3,291 ft. climb
D-E Dourdan to Les Riceys
138 miles 4,081 ft. climb
E-F Les Riceys to Belfort
146 miles 4,990 ft. climb
F-G Belfort to Weesen
130 miles 3,684 ft. climb
G-H Weesen to Zernez
73 miles 8,737 ft. climb
H-I Zernez to Nova Levante
95 miles 7,717 ft. climb (Non-Stelvio!)
I-J Nova Levante to Venice
119 miles 6,411 ft. climb

Everything is ready, our daily supplies of carbohydrate gels and bars have been sent off to the hotels en route, bikes are serviced, tickets checked and bags packed. Needless to say whilst you’ll be basking in glorious sunshine here in the UK, the weekend weather in France is forecast to be truly awful, so do think of us peddling through the torrential rain!
 
We’re not only doing this cycle to ameliorate our various mid-life crises, the other reason is to raise a bit of money for a couple of good causes:


THE BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION

THE UPKEEP OF AN HISTORIC LOCAL CHURCH AT ALDWORTH, HOME OF THE ALDWORTH GIANTS

If you would like to assist with this latter objective, please BACS whatever you feel you can spare for one or both of these great causes to a dedicated bank account, sort code 40-22-14, account number 61218913, using your name as the reference. If you have a preference as to which cause you wish your donation to go to please add ‘BHF’ or ‘AC’ as appropriate. (e.g. REF: BILL SMITH AC is Aldworth Church and REF: BILL SMITH BHF is British Heart Foundation). The default where no preference is stated is 50% to each cause.

If you make a donation please take the trouble to complete this Gift Aid form and return to Graham at g.burfoot@countrywidegrounds.com so the charities can reclaim tax and increase your donation by 25% or more. (See http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/gift_aid/declarations.htm )

Thanks and keep you posted!