Southampton to Barcelona - by bike

No post yesterday - I was sussing out how to use my google map within the site - I know it isn't working on a visual level but it's the best I can do for now! At least you can track their progress and see how their journey is going. If you double click on either a line or a marker point you will get additional information about miles covered, places stayed etc. Also, you can switch between viewing satellite, general map or terrain which I've found interesting. Use the 'hand' to 'move' the map around within the window; double click or use the plus/minus signs to zoom in/out and if you want to view a full size map click on the blue link to the bottom left of the map to link to google-maps.
They're all well and as you can see from the map - making a serious dent in their overall journey - at this rate they'll be in Barcelona early!

Today the boys started cycling at 8am (French time) and after 9 hours of hard slog completed the first 75 miles of their route. They stopped at 5pm french time and managed to convince some locals in Notre-Dame-du-Bois to let them stay just outside their closed camp site!!! The map shows the total journey completed and their current location - it will be updated as often as possible.

As Ren is obviously going to be a bit busy over the next few weeks, he has left me in charge of updating the blog so you can track their progress. He will be sending me regular messages, photos and possibly video footage so watch this space…
Last night at approximately 5:15pm, the boys set off on their adventure. They left St Mary’s Football Stadium to cheers from about 50 people and I know it meant a lot to them that so many friends and family showed such good support.
After leaving, they only managed to get as far as Bursledon when Rich’s front pannier broke – thankfully it was only a minor problem and could be fixed at the ferry terminal in Portsmouth.
After a bite to eat and pint of Guinness we said our sad farewells and they set sail to Le Havre. I spoke to Ren this morning and he said that they had slept surprisingly well and although struggled slightly navigating their way out of Le Havre were feeling positive about what was ahead.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your support and generosity – if you view the JustGiving page, you will see that donations to date have tipped them over the original £4000 target and I know there are sponsor forms circulating that will top up the total further. This brings us back to what this about – the money raised will be greatly received by the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and put towards finding a cure for this cruel disease.
Thank you once again and keep viewing,
Kate x

Saturday 1st March saw the (now annual) CF quiz night take place at Bursledon village hall. Each year we organise a quiz night in relation to whatever challenge we set to help raise funds for the CF trust.

This year's event topped anything we have previously raised on one of these nights - a staggering £2000! Thanks to all of you who attended and dug deep into your pockets. People donated way beyond what we were expecting which is fantastic!

A massive thank you to Chris and Angie Hall who covered all of our running costs (bar, food and hall hire) totalling £467.92 - this meant that all money raised has been donated to CF Trust as we had no outgoings.

It's now only 3 weeks until we set off and we're getting pretty excited. I just hope the French weather is kind to us.

I recently stumbled on the above picture on the internet of someone cycling through the Pyrenees and thought it looked pretty cool. If we're blessed with similiar weather I'll be well happy.

This week (wk commencing 11/02/08) we received an extremely generous donation of £1000 from Abbotswood Properties Ltd. This goes a long way towards achieving our £4000 target.

We would like to thank Ann Hauser and all at Abbotswood for this amazing contribution.

Ann also wanted to wish us good luck and had the following message for us:

"Good luck Richard, Lee and Michael! Go for it!! Love Ann x"

Last Friday Rich and I popped along to St Mary's stadium to have some photos taken with our friend and Saints player, Andy Surman. Photographers from The Daily Echo, Southampton University magazine and Southampton FC were there, and will all be covering the story. The aim being to help the sponsorship drive.

The story was covered in today's issue of the daily echo, click on the following link to read the story.
http://renstout.googlepages.com/lee-echo.pdf

Here's a picture of some Tour de France cyclists descending through the Pyrenees during a previous tour.
We will be passing through very similar territory, but unlike the tour riders we will be hauling around 40kg of equipment with us. That's not to mock the tour riders though - those guys are super-human.