Gatwick to Greenwich

First of all, thank you so much for all the encouragement and especially to those who sponsored us! We managed the route in around 8 hours, with lots of stops.

The cat was surprised when we woke him up around 6am (it's usually the other way round), and we managed to catch our 7.03 train to Gatwick. There were four other cyclists on the train and we bumped into each other as we tried to find our way through Gatwick airport to the national cycle route 21. We discovered that we had to go down to street level in a frieight lift: 'So this is where they put the cyclists...' said F as we pulled the lift door shut.

There weren't as many cyclists as I thought, but there were enough for two groups. We were guided along the way by Sustrans volunteers on bicycles and we picked up a few more cyclists at various points along the route. At Redhill, two kids (the youngest aged 7) joined us and they powered through all the way to the end! It's sad to say, but they both beat me up those hills. One of the Sustrans volunteers guiding us had one leg and was a very fit cyclist.

Lots of beautiful scenery (bluebell woods, great views from the North Downs, foals, wild garlic...), a few spots of rain, much chatting and interesting conversation and just good fun. Hooray!