Over and Out

So, I’m drowning under a growing pile of Xmas cards itching to be written and sent. As the temperature continues to plummet, the constant 30 degrees, fresh air and blue skies of the French Auvergne and the Spanish Sierra Nevada seem a distant memory.

I’ve been meaning to write this final post for several weeks, but just haven’t managed to commit to it.  Much like shaving off the ‘Bellamyesque’ beard, dragging myself to a barbers for the first time in months and weaning myself off daily applications of Chamois cream, I’ve put these tasks off for as long as possible, savouring every moment of the ‘just back from my travels’ appearance. Even if the look had a certain trampishness about it, it felt bloody wonderful. Bellamy, Captain Birds Eye and Ben Fogle all wrapped into one.  Nice.

Did we really get back over 6 weeks ago? Amazing how time flies. Honestly, what with the Wire and Homeland to catch up on, press interviews to give, photo albums to organise and endless requests for public appearances, I’ve been flat out. Exhausted.  In fact, I need a holiday.

But before I disappear off in search of warmer climes, I do just want to say a few final thank yous.

As you all know the idea for this ride developed after my father passed away in January. And while the ride was undoubtedly a lot of fun, full of terrific memories and experiences, the poignancy of the driving factors for me doing this were never far away throughout the 10 weeks. It was about the incredible Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice that cared for Dad, the Help For Heroes charity that my father supported, but first and foremost it was about Dad and taking on a ride he did 50 years ago and finishing it in his memory.

I doubt my English GSCE ‘A’ equips me sufficiently to convey the level of gratitude I feel. I really can’t thank everyone enough who has supported the journey, either by donations, messages of encouragement, offers of support etc. We’ve raised a staggering £12,000 to date, which is truly incredible when you think I wasn’t sure if I’d get to £3,000 when I first started out. To put it into context, the CEO of the Hospice told me that this is one of the biggest amounts raised by fundraising – they just don’t have people going out and doing what we’ve done for them very often.  It really means a huge amount to them all the staff there. So a huge, sincere and if Dad had anything to do with it, probably teary thank you from me to everyone who has donated and got behind us. Times are tough, and you have been incredible, some of you ridiculously so.

To wrap up this memorable adventure, a couple of individual thank yous that need special mention:

Karen , Henri and Mike – my wonderful cousins, thank you for making the effort to join us in Argentiere and again for your hospitality in Geneva. Delighted to have involved you in the journey. And Karen & Henri – I am so happy for you both!

Annie and Paddy – for putting us up in Anzere and treating us to possibly the best meal of the 10 weeks! Your generosity was and is incredible.

Dave, Jan and Stewart – Sedella, wow, please find me a mountain top too. I’m serious. A truly fantastic couple of days chilling out before the big finale. One day, I will cycle up that dam mountain though!

Jason, the ‘Armenian Bullet’ who joined us for 10 days, buried himself in the mountains on that first day, is the only person to have ‘really had to push it up the hills’ and currently holds the record for crashes involving only himself.  Thanks mate.

Lulu, Olivia and Rick – Tour Director, Tour Support Coordinator and Accoutrement Design Director respectively.  Thanks for your ongoing support, schlepping out to join us on those various weekends, replenishing Dioralyte supplies, giving Cheeks and I someone else to chat to after weeks of our own banal banter and for arranging a flawless and magnificent welcome to Gibraltar. You are stars.

Cheeks/Humph - bearded partner in crime, thank you for putting off your return to the world of work (whenever that might be!) and choosing to be part of the whole journey, even if you did take 2 weeks off in the middle… It was a real blast and will live very long in the memory.  Thank you.

And finally, to Dad. The inspiration. It’s been a pleasure following in your footsteps. I hope you have enjoyed the journey as much as I have.

That’s all folks, save for a final shot of the beard!  Happy Christmas.

Charlie

10 days in the saddle - by Jason, the Armenian Bullet

Hello World.

A guest post from yours truly, the recently christened Armenian Bullet. (User Guidelines: Only to be fired on the flat or downhill. Performance can be a little shaky and cannot be guaranteed at uphill gradients above 10%).

So.

What an amazing 10 days on the road.

A brutal yet beautiful introductory first day starting in Nice and on through the 1200m summit of the Gorge Du Verdon. This accomplishment set the pace and my expectations of myself for the remainder of the tour. It felt good to prove my fitness on the first day. A quick and early win for the confidence. The guys looked impressed.

The only problem was that come 8pm I couldn't feel my legs.

Yes. No feelings in the legs and despite having consumed 2 croissants, a banana, a peach, 2 foot long baguettes, a quiche, two power bars, one hot chocolate, a packet of dried fruits, peanuts and 4 litres of water - I was starving beyond measure.

Having devoured a pizza for dinner, that night I fell asleep to the sound of my own snoring. I can't deny it.

No sleep ins, no late departures; showered and up and at'em on the road by 8.30am each morning looking for breakfast. Pain au raisin and coffee. Oh Pain au raisin! How you lifted our spirits with your devilishly smooth custard filing and manly size. I miss you.

Now. Let's talk about Charlie's beard. Have you seen it?

I'm not saying its the thickest, densest wildest omnidirectional gorse bush of a beard I've ever encountered, BUT....yes I am. Its mental. It's the kind of environment where one would find a family of slow loris dwelling in the undergrowth. A majestic Amazonian wonder of such unparalleled abundance that it makes Chewbakka look like an over hyped man suit of bum fluff. He must have been drinking Spinach and concrete mix before going to bed each night. To be fair I couldn't hear, I was snoring.

Cycling on the hard shoulder of a motorway is not for the faint hearted. Nor is crossing a five lane motorway doing one fifth the speed of passing traffic. Often unavoidable and at once foreboding, these were typically the hours we spent toiling in Spanish headwinds getting some distance under our belt. Head down and getting the job done. Flags flying. Always.

My uncle wisely one said, those who choose to ride the tiger cannot dismount at will. So it went with our cycling challenge; there was little option but to push through, often with very little daylight left to find ourselves a campsite. It was just the right side of edgy to be enjoyable. I imagine a bit like living in Brixton.

And No. My uncle wasn't in the circus.

For the most part, we were utterly spoilt with beautiful landscape in both France and Spain.From zipping through treelined boulevards and past countless old Chateaus in Provence, to taking on numerous Cols and hills as we zig zagged down the coast line and over the Pyrenees into Spain. A visual feast for the eyes and all the better to take our minds off the sheer physicality of our undertaking. Cycling uphill for hours on end is hard work. Add 20kg of weight and you have a profuse sweat on your hands. But once you hit the downhill it was all worth it - nothing like a 60km downhill speed to get the blood flowing.

Referred to by locals as the "bike of the Capitalist", my machine got her fair share of looks from admiring on lookers throughout the trip. Unfortunately, so did I, during my several stacks onto the tarmac. A stack being a complete sideways collapse onto the road, with both legs still clipped into the pedals. Yes. It really did look as ridiculous as it sounds.

The best part is when your friends re direct traffic to get a better position in the road to take a photo of you.

Charlie's Welsh flag also won a popularity contest, pulling in conversations and interest wherever we went, often accompanied with moments of kindness and compassion as complete strangers handed us donations. It was great to see and a reminder of our capacity as human beings to reach out to each other through acts of sympathy and kindness.

And to your kindness, support and donations - for my small part in this adventure, thank you. I completed 1100km in 9 days of cycling. I'm proud of my achievement and proud to have been part of this special journey with Charlie and Cheeks. Being able to complete such an enjoyable and rewarding challenge with friends is one for the Grandchildren.

To Charlie and Cheeks. Your work in the saddle over the past few months is an inspiration. £8,000 raised and over 4000km cycled. Really very well done.

And so farewell blog friends. I leave you many pounds lighter and even more smitten with cycling than when I first started the tour. Great memories from raising money for a great cause. Rock on.

AB.

(PS. Armenia is a land locked country between Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran. A big Shout Out to my diasporic brothers we chanced upon during the trip. Fly that flag!)

And the media circus begins...

Fame at last! Check out this link for the interviews with me and Humph...

http://www.gbc.gi/news/news-player.php?programme=475&episode=5057

And here is the Gibraltar Chronicle article....

UK CHARITY CYCLE TO GIB RAISES OVER £10,000

Charlie Vaughan-Griffiths and friend Humphrey Butler successfully completed their charity cycle from the UK to Gibraltar at Eastern Beach, yesterday afternoon.

Cycling through France, participating in the Alpine Road Race for Help the Heroes and finally cycling down the Eastern Coast of Spain; the duo smashed their fundraising target by raising an impressive £10,000 for Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice with over 67 days of long distance cycling. The 4,000 kilometre adventure was inspired by Charlie’s father, who had attempted to cycle along this route almost 50 years ago and sadly passed away earlier this year after battling liver cancer.

All the money raised by the cycling duo is planned to be donated to the hospice which cared for his father before his death. Boasting whispy long beards and golden tans, the two charity cyclists crossed the finishing line in style and with bags of amazing experiences behind them.

“It’s huge; it means so much to me and my family. Doing this trip has been rewarding on so many levels and there’s no reason why it has to end here. I think there’ll definitely be part two of some sort in the future!” commented a cheerful Charlie on his achievement.

We've done it!

After 67 days, 4630kms cycled and over £10,000 raised, we made it to Gibraltar on 11th October.

And we even got on the news...

http://www.gbc.gi/news/news-player.php?programme=475&episode=5057

Fantastic to complete the journey. It's been incredible as has the support.

Full update to come, but now the beach is calling...

Penultimate day, milestones and not the final post

Our penultimate day on the bikes, as we prepare for tomorrow's final few kms to Gibraltar. Humph stormed past the 4000km mark today. Considering he only signed up initially for a couple of 'easier weeks' in northern France, this is quite a achievement. Especially when you take into account the dodgy knees and weight of beard.

And we are now over the £10,000 mark for donations. Thanks to a wonderful surge online this week including a number of amazing people sponsoring twice. I can't thank you all enough. And the cash donations keep coming in from people we meet on the road, who see the shirts and hear the story behind the journey.

So Gibraltar tomorrow and the end of an amazing ten week adventure.

I'm not ready to wrap this up just yet, but suffice to say that it has been incredible on many fronts.

Bring in the Rock!

£10,000 raised!

As we zero in on Gibraltar, with one and a half days riding to go, I'm absolutely delighted to say we've just hit the magical £10k!!

Unbelievable. The pain as I lie here trying to straighten my back out in Fuegirola's finest campsite, is totally worth it.

Thank you to everyone involved in what is proving to be a marvellous final drive to the line. You are all stars.

Sincere and most humble thanks,

Charlie and Humph

2 Days To Go..

.. but can we get to double digits before the boys reach Gibraltar?

If you can help, visit :

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CharlieVaughanGriffith

Or for text donations of up to £10, text CHVG77 plus the amount to 70070

Thank you enormously!!

Tour HQ xx