Just to say...

Thanks so much for all your encouragement and the comments youäve been leaving for us here. Also, thanks for all the donations so far.

All we have to say is, keep 'em coming and if you know anyone you think might be interested, pass on the link to this blog.

love andrea and dan

Over hill and soggy dale

Day 10 - Neustadt to Velberg

We had all that a bad biking trip could throw at us yesterday. Wind - in the wrong direction, big hills, ambiguous signage, and loads of all of it - we had over 80 miles on the clock after 13 hours of cycling last night. Thankfully, the hotel was full of stuffed animals and amongst the dead was a live, whistling parrot!

The highlight of the day was a stop for lunch of chips with paprika on them! recommended culinary tweak there.

We had another navigation disaster. At one point we crossed the same junction 4 times including through a soggy field, before eventually finding the right route. Suffice to say, the signage here isn't great. It´s all character building stuff.

By the way, we passed this sign which let us know that we were 840km from london, and 630km to Vienna. Nice.

Now break!

Day 7 - Frankfurt

We've schlepped around, enjoying our day off drinking Apfelwein and reading a rather cotly Guardian newspaper. Briefly made it into the Deutches Arkitektur Museum, but otherwise nothing but eating and a rubbish curry at that.

We're having trouble uploading any pictures in the internet cafes so Dan says if anyone's got an installation diskette for Windows 95 with camera drivers that you can send us, let us know!

Off to do more sleeping and eating.

Champagne and Impressionist Women.

Day 6 - Kamp Bornhofen to Frankfurt

The last day before our break in Frankfurt started with the sun in the sky and, unfortunately, the wind in our faces. The stress and strain was aleviated by the glass of red Assmanhausen champagne in a rather fancy, riverside joint for lunch.

The rest of the journey passed without merit and we soon found ourselves weaving in and out of Frankfurt tourist-traffic on the bank of the river. We quickly settled and found we'd arrived just in time for a one-night only opportunity to see all of Frankfurt's museums. Guess how many Dan wanted to visit! Suffice to say we made 5 and made it home by midnight.

A taste of Rhine.

Day 5 - Bonn to Kamp Bornhofen

Leaving behind us the unremarkable city of Bonn, we started our journey down the Rhine, stopping only to stuff our faces with an ice-cream sundae in a random town we can't remember.

Another map disaster ensued as we lost our way in Koblenz and nearly ended up cycling back into Holland. The route got more interesting as we passed alongside the many vineyards on the banks of the river. Kamp Bornhofen gave us a our first taste of sweet, German vino.

Day 4 - checking every turn

Aachen to Bonn

Suprisingly quick ride despite the navigation disaster that almost defined today. Between the pre-war map, GPS with no data, rubbish German signage and a compass that needs 10 mins for calibration, we had to stop at every junction and guess at the right turn.

Tomorrow´s ride follows a river the whole way - navigation bliss.

Day 3 - 3 countries in one day

We managed to leave the asparagus obsessed (enough to host an asparagus festival !?!) Diest (Belgium) and cycle straight through the entire country of Holland (check the map, haters) to get to Aachen in Germany today.

We passed through Maastricht quickly because we couldn´t remember what that treaty was all about. A nice mix of canal paths and Devonesque Holland countryside which took our minds off our numb bums.

Day 1 - Woe the wind

Dunkerque to Gent

Apparently it takes four times as much effort to cycle when you´ve got a headwind. Man, we felt that fact in our faces today. We were only doing 12 mph and it felt like 100! It wasn´t.

It was slow going, but we made it to Gent and the wondeful Myriam Dolders b&b (who donated some of the fee to Unicef). Pretty city, nice frites.

Ready to go...

We're packing bags, pumping tyres, tightening brakes, and of course, consuming carbs. Our trip starts tomorrow - and we're fit, confident, excited...but a little nervous at he same time...

So we'd like to say thanks to everyone for their support! We'll see you on the other side

keep checking here, because we'll be posting up photos and bits throughout the journey

We wish we could take the cats

But unfortunately, we can't. But Ronnie has come to the rescue once again! She's looking after them while we're away. Thanks Ronnie!

She's been having trouble donating online - have you?

It seems that some of you have been struggling to donate on the JustGiving website. We're not sure why their site's not working properly, but we think it might have something to do with heavy traffic on their site for the London Marathon.

Our advice:
- try to donate from a different computer
- wait until Monday 14th
- if none of the above works, send us a cheque to 39 Jebb Avenue, SW2 5XQ and we'll big you up here.

Could someone you know put us up for the night?

The cost of doing the trip is having a big impact on our bank balances so saving some money on accommodation would be a real boon! These guys have already offered to put dan up ;-) It would be great to stay with someone less scary though.

If you know anyone who lives in the following places we'd love to stay with them:
Dunkerque, Gent or Diest in Belgium
Aachen, Bonn, Kamp-Bomhofen, Frankfurt, Werthiem, Neustadt an der aisch, Velburg, Bogen or Obernzell in Germany
Linz, Willendorf or Vienna in Austria

Stuffing our faces

I'm not sure we're gonna come back as lean as we think. We'll have to be putting 3500 calories down our throats a day - to keep up with our hungry legs. & We're on a diet of carbs the week before we leave. Hopefully my bike won't cave under the weight

Clockin up the training miles

We clocked up 220 miles last week - all part of our strict training regime. We did a 60 mile ride to maidenhead (facinating trip along the A4 - you wouldn't believe the scenery), plus Andrea did an extra long 30 mile trip to work one morning. And I did my regular 12 miles to work and back, the only difference being that I was fully lycra-ed - a bit like this fine chap.