Rotary Club of Epworth                                            

        and  the Isle of  Axholme

           District 1270

Saturday 11.30am 11th June 2011

and they're off!! Good Luck

Day 1 Summary - From Ed and Julian

We departed from Epworth at 11:30 and began with a parade across the village, It surprised me how many people turned out to send us off!

We then headed onto Keadby bridge after meandering our way through a few villages, then onto Winterton and a brief stop off for lunch at Horkstow bridge, after this we cycled up a large hill just past Horkstow and onto Barton-upon-Humber, we then cycled over the Humber Bridge through Hessle and Hull and into the ferry port in time to depart at 6:30pm.

The total miles for this day came to

38.90 miles. There is a video of the journey on http://www.julianandedscycletrip.co.uk/

 

Pictures sent in via Matt Walsh

 

17:24 Had text to say on the Ferry!!!!

 

Ian Parkin 18.08 : All aboard the pride of Bruges and about to set sail. Dinner booked for 8 - get priorities right.

Ian Parkin 18.26 :

Set sail (well technically engine driving us). Simon walsh loving the shower - understand got showered fully dressed! Not too challenging oops typo a tough day in the hills of Lincolnshire. So tough at points had to resort to shanks pony. Two scary moments - was the man chopping trees and burning them or was it a person? Second scary moment cycling through salubrious parts of hull encountering a number of traffic signals and had to run the red lights - not talking just traffic the two ladies looked like risking the death of cold.

Boarding ferry competitive all our group able to cycle up the ramp unlike some other parties.

Dinner choice tonight steak or fish and chips and maybe something vegetarian .

Cabins snug for those with 4 in. A whole new experience showering on top of the loo

 

Sat 11th June - PM

The WAGS of Epworth rotary cyclists met in their usual style at Bronwen's. We started with the VNAPS (virtually non alcoholic Pimms) and after the first sip realised a need for more lemonade. Little did we know that Debbie's Tiramisu would be even more potent. The starter was provided by Carol- a lovely melange of meats, olives and pate. Subject of conversation five times a night. Main course was a lovely combination of chicken, pesto, mozarella and parma ham with potatoes and veg by Vanessa. Subject of conversation divorce.
The lethal pud - Tiramisu- was by Debbie. Equal measures of rum and brandy!! Subject of conversation scary aeroplane flights. The cheese is yet to come.

22. 15 Cheese provided by Hilary. Topic of conversation vagjazzle. All enquiries to Carol W. Cheese course. Note to Debbie. Remove plastic before eating cheese.

Cheese. Subject of conversation. Mr Walsh and his snoring habits. Mr Gatecliff and his talent with a hypodermic syringe

 

 

Update - 9.28 Sunday

Stopped as Andrea has second puncture of day. First on ferry second on front in Zebruggee. Very sunny all sun tan lotion up. James driven ahead for a read and snooze.

Ian Parkin has sent us a link following two people from Gainsborough who are with our group. It shows where they are throughout the journey and also has a blog.

http://www.julianandedscycletrip.co.uk/

Via Juliananded - 12.20 (an hour in front of us) We are waiting for a small ferry Breskens to take us across the channel.63.40 miles so far

 

 

Day 2 Summary via Julian and Ed

After a great night and morning on the ferry we departed at around 09:30. We set off on our way to Renesse, don't ask me where we went as I don't remember the place names! We did visit Bresken, Veere and we did go over some big bridges and a ferry. (Yes, I followed the others!)

 

The total miles for this day came to

63.40 miles.

There is another video on their blog page of the journey on day 2.

 

Day 3 Summary

After our overnight stop and tex-mex evening meal we departed onwards for Rotterdam. Again, we went through quite a few towns and villages and stopped off at an italian come greek style restaurant for lunch.

 

On arrival to Rotterdam we took a slight detour to visit the Rotterdam Rotarians, they gave us a very warm welcome and we all enjoyed good conversation with them. We all hope that we will meet them again soon.

 

We then cycled from the meeting point to the Ferry port in Rotterdam, which was around 15 miles.

 

The total miles for this day came to

61.10 miles.

 

Day 4 Summary

We disembarked the ferry at 07:45 and found ourselves in a long queue to get through passport control, it later became apparent that the harbour was under a security alert. Anyway, we were asked to cycle single file past a "Secret Van", not sure what it was all about, but they were implying it was some X-Ray device.

The cycle home from Hull to Epworth was the same route as the outgoing journey, however with a strong headwind and very long gradual inclines it was much tougher in places. We arrived back in Epworth at 1pm for a celebratory lunch before everyone made their own way home.

It felt sad that the journey was over, the whole team gelled together well and everyone was supportive to one another. We do hope that we can join the Epworth rotarians in another one of their cycle journeys!

 

The total miles for this day came to

38.90 miles.