A huge thank you to everyone who supported us in many ways. We made it! With only one puncture, nearly missing the ferry and a few other adventures along the way it was amazing.  The first day from Leyton to Dover saw us leaving Leyton at 830am and arriving very wet and with soggy trainers at Dover that evening.  Kent is a very hilly county we discovered as we pedalled along the A20 and we were immensely thankful for the final 3 mile downhill stretch from Folkstone to Dover. Apparently the view from there is lovely, but it was a grey wall of rain when we were scooting by!

On sunday morning we got up, collected our tandem from the hotel conference room and pedalled the 'five minutes' to the ferry terminal. It may have been close but navigating through the ferry terminal was more like half an hour by the time we had collected our tickets etc which didn't leave us much time to pedal rather fast to the boat. We loaded on with the coaches and ended up next to a car with 2 tandems on the roof!  We watched the white cliffs disappearing behind us and then had a good fry up!

We arrived in Calais at 11am and after a quick trip to the boulangerie to buy the necessary bagette we headed out along a pretty river, nice and flat. Little did we know what lay ahead.  The road surface got gradually worse and the hills got quickly bigger. The surface was so bad we had to pedal downhill. Eventually we suffered a puncture and so decided it was time for lunch in the middle of nowhere.  After some sustinance and a replaced inner tuber we carried on, beginning to realise why people have backup vehicles! To cut a long story short the countryside was beautiful, the sun began to shine but we had miles and miles before we reached Abbeville for the night. We eventually got to our hotel at 850pm (the reception closed at 9...) . A trip to the Pataterie sorted us out for dinner and we collapsed into bed. 

Day 3 we set off from Abbeville and had a nice more relaxed day to Beauvais.  The final day was also nice and short with the added boost of our goal finally looking achievable.  We reached the Arc de Triomphe at about 3pm - we'd made it and are still stunned that pure pedal power got us all the way from east london to gay Paris!

We decided to use our trip to raise money for the Smiles Foundation.  We went to Romania with the Smiles Foundation in 2006 and were really impressed with their work.  They offer really practical help to those most in need in Romania. They help homeless people get back on their feet, give food to those who can't afford to eat and have many other great initiatives.  They also particularly help the gypsies in Romania giving the children basic sanitation and an education as well as the opportunity to play like children rather than begging/working.  If you would like to know more about the great work of the Smiles Foundation, their website is www.thesmilesfoundation.org  

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Many thanks,

Katrina and Jono