(download)
posterous
Contributors
finished!
after 705 miles, 13 cities, two weeks on the road, tens of thousands of calories ingested, dozens of coffees drunk, countless stops to consult maps, a couple of falls, a case of cellulitis, a blizzard and torrential downpour, 13 services and gallons of sweat, we finally reached the king's centre in oxford at 4pm on saturday in time to join with the day 50 celebration.
on behalf of all the cyclists, a huge, huge thank you to all those who have supported us during the last two weeks by cycling with us, praying for us, sponsoring us, organizing services, washing clothes, feeding us, giving us such wonderful hospitality. your kindness will live long in our memories. thank you.
p.s. the total amount raised for cms so far is in excess of £8,000.
Posted
by day50tour
and on the twelfth day...
...we cycled from woodford to ealing. phil and omar led us on a beautiful route through the london canals. all in all we covered 39 hot but very pleasurable miles. we stopped for a quick tour of cms mission partners, kailean and kim' khongsai's work with a rocha in southall, before nipping back to ealing for our last evening service of the tour with st mary's ealing. thanks go to christine goldsmid and john martin and the rest of the team for pulling together the service. again it was great time of sharing stories and being inspired by what god is doing in the local area and also around the world.
tomorrow is our last day. we will be cycling into the main cms day 50 celebration in the afternoon to finish the tour. mixed emotions - looking forward to seeing family and friends again but sad that this great adventure will be ending.
cake
Posted
by day50tour
bex and omar
great to have bex and omar along with us today. bex works at cms helping people think through their calling to mission service. omar joined us from woodford and will be with us tomorrow as we finish our journey in oxford.
Posted
by day50tour
the urban jungle...
another relatively short day (45 miles) today. we made it unscathed through central london, largely thanks to chris abbess who joined us from richmond. chris had put a lot of work in to plotting our way through central london, avoiding the worst of the traffic. this made what could have been a tedious and slightly dangerous day into a very pleasant tour through the back streets of london and the lea valley. so thank you chris!
we are just back from the service tonight where alf cooper and paul thaxter lead us through a celebration of the ministries of both CMS and SAMS and their 'marriage', as alf described it. it was wonderful to meet so many really dedicated supporters of both societies and to experience a sense of unity and oneness in sharing god's mission all over the world.
thanks especially go to peter and mary dowsett and the rest of the team who organized the event.
only two more days to go! a last call for more cyclists from ealing to oxford....
Posted
by day50tour
45 sunny miles from winchester to guildford...
today was our shortest day since hull to york a week and a half ago. we bade a fond farewell to the team at winchester, who had put on such a great service the night before. there was a great atmosphere in the church and fantastic to meet so many committed cms supporters. we also heard from the youth team who, following a mission trip to uganda, have been inspired to reach primary aged school children all across winchester. all god's blessings on your ministry!
our numbers were swelled today with deb and james gibson joining us on their tandem. we loved having you along for the ride - we hope you had a good time! we also had the pleasure of paul thaxter's company. as it is late and my brain has officially disengaged, here are some videos from the day...
tomorrow we ride through central london to woodford wells where alf cooper is going to be speaking. please do come along!
Posted
by day50tour
over the plains of salisbury
today's leg was rated the second toughest of our whole tour: 75 miles, 4,000 feet of ascent and a over 7 hours in the saddle. we were down on numbers aswell with phil, a core member of the team, nipping back to oxford for a couple of days before joining us again in london. we certainly missed his climbing prowess, good humour, not to mention his multicoloured cycling gear! we look forward to meeting up again at woodford.
the first couple of hours ride were punctuated by several lung bursting climbs to wake us up after our day off. the legs certainly took some time to get used to the 1 in 7s. but our uphill efforts were more than rewarded by some stunning views across the valleys of the avon. fields and fields of rapeseed colouring the countryside yellow, and combined with a hot sun, it was a pretty perfect morning's ride.
running a two stop strategy today, our first stop was in melksham to meet up with ann tyndall, who is one of cms' trustees. ann had kindly nipped out from work and had spied a good, if slightly eccentric 50s themed coffee shop, resplendent with neon jukeboxes. thanks for your support ann!
then it was onwards up onto salisbury plain and lunch. sadly the m.o.d. had obviously not got the message we would be passing through the area and had organized exercises which forced us to veer from our original route. but we found a nice little country pub for a lunch stop and, well fed and watered, we ploughed on to winchester, even forsaking a tea and cake stop, before arriving, slightly late, at christ church winchester.
we have had a couple of mishaps along the way today. jenny had a small tumble (she may have been looking to intently at the make of some sheep at the time). thankfully no lasting damage. and peter has been diagnosed with cellulitis on his shin so has had to nip off to pick up some anti-biotics. do remember him in your prayers!
the final word must go to julie who was unanimously voted queen of the mountains. we are not sure what she was eating and its legaility - suspicious pickled onions were ingested at lunch time - but whatever it was certainly powered her up the hills in record time.
tomorrow we head to guildford and are joined on the way by deb and james gibson on a bicycle made for two, along with mr. paul thaxter who was threatening to wear purple lycra (the mind boggles) ...videos to follow!
Posted
by day50tour
farewell henry...and back into (a very wet) england
following henry's last night with us in cardiff, we finished our brief sojourn in wales and crossed back into england via the old severn bridge.
we have been so warmly welcomed everywhere and bristol has been no exception. we enjoyed a vibrant and colourful (not to mention loud!) service with holy trinity stapleton in the evening. today has been a much needed rest day, which some of us spent in the wilds of wick with the burgess family. thank you steve and cathy!
tomorrow, we get back onto our bikes and head off to winchester - a mere 75 miles away.
P.S. THANKS TO JENNY FOR HER PREVIOUS POST.
Posted
by day50tour
