Tour Report

Copy of our Team Report...

It all began one long and particularly dull day during my summer placement in July 2009... as the afternoon dragged slowly by and it began to dawn on me that I probably faced 40 or so years of such afternoon’s to come, I was overwhelmed with a sudden urge to spend my final summer post-university doing something stupid. Now, slightly over a year later, I’ve just cycled to Africa.

The first challenge was to recruit a willing volunteer to accompany me. This turned out to be easier than I feared, and, after they realised this wasn’t just one of those ridiculous schemes thought up in the pub, one by one five school friends declared themselves ‘in’. Although all keen sportsmen of various persuasions, none of us had either ever done any remotely serious cycling before, let alone any kind of ‘ultra-endurance’ event, so I think it's fair to say that deciding to cycle almost 2000 miles to Africa was quite ambitious! The first few meetings were spent deciding on a broad plan of action which concluded, for all the wrong reasons, that we'd cycle (we didn't fancy running), from Cambridge (we lived there), through France and Spain (to get a tan), to Casablanca (alliteration) in 28 days (back of an envelope maths based on the fact two 2 of us had once cycled 80 miles in a day).

From these inauspicious beginnings the project gradually morphed into something much more ‘professional’; amidst a background of what must have been several thousand emails, we slowly designed and launched our website, arranged Ben Hayward to provide bikes, appeared in the papers and on the radio, secured corporate sponsorship, ordered kit and even began doing some cycling... and before we knew it, a stupid conversation in the pub 12 months ago had turned into reality, and the six of us, resplendent in our newly made team kit, and astride shiny bikes, were being waved off by a not inconsiderable crowd from Marshall's Group HQ, our main sponsor, to set off for Africa!

Our route took us from Cambridge to the south coast, across The Channel, down the West coast of France, over the foothills of the Pyrenees, onwards through the searing mid-summer heat of central Spain to Tariffa, the southernmost tip of Europe, across the Mediterranean into Africa, and finally from Tangiers in northern Morocco to our final destination: Casablanca. We travelled without support, carrying all our own equipment, including tents, and eventually completing the 1700 miles in 27 days.

The whole journey was very tough, yet it was an incredible experience in so many other respects, from the day to day challenges of keeping the bodies and bikes well-oiled and well-fed, to the frequently stunning scenery, the often incredibly helpful people we met and the and the rollercoaster of emotions experienced in such a challenge, it is definitely something we will never forget. For me the most the most enjoyable leg of the tour was cycling in Morocco.  Although we encountered temperatures in the mid 40s, poor road surfaces, inaccurate maps and a language barrier, we were greeted at every turn with cheers and shouts of encouragement from the locals to keep us going.  It was not all plain sailing however, and aside from running repairs to body and bike, we had two bad crashes, sadly losing one the team to a broken collar bone in the first, just a few miles into Spain. Overall though I think we’re all enormously proud of what we have achieved and the feeling in the hours of reaching the finish made it all worthwhile.

The main element of our trip was of course raising money for Acorn House, The Sick Children’s Trust centre in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. Acorn House provides ‘home from home’ care on the hospital site for the families of seriously ill children and we’re delighted that, thanks to the generosity of friends, families and sponsors, we have been able to raise over £8,000 for a truly worthy cause.

Finally, the team are very conscious of the amount of support and goodwill that we’ve enjoyed in completing our adventure, and we’re all enormously grateful to all those who have helped us in anyway, and made the whole trip possible.

George Dean, September 2010