The SolarCycle Diaries: 3 riders. 12,000 miles. 1 cause.

Yaaaaaaaaaah. Smack. Umpfh. Silence. (Feet. Check. Legs. Check. Body. Check. Arm. Hmm. That feels a bit bruised. Hand. Ooh that smarts a little. Face…. Oh dear. That’s definitely blood…. and a bit of tooth….) “Suse, you might not want to use your face to stop next time.” 

Deary me. 

I would love to claim that it was a dramatic incident in which I swerved to avoid hitting an eldery lady/used my bike to avert a calamatous international incident etc but I had actually been distracted by the sight of a patisserie and pedaled into Iain. At 1 mph. As he came up to a mini roundabout. 

Somehow in the ensuing second and a half I had not only failed to hit the brakes but also to remove my hands from the bike. The only thing left, therefore, was stopping myself with my chin.

Rubbish.

Especially as I now bear more than a passing resemblance to Jimmy Hill.

We had joked before the trip about the problems of women traveling in the Middle East and how I could always disguise myself as a man. I didn’t actually think, however, that just before getting the boat to Tunisia I would pick up an injury that make me look like I have a goatee!

Anyway, a dramatic end to the first couple of weeks and to Europe. So - for anyone with a spare ten minutes and a coffee in hand - let me recap the mayhem and excitement that was France.

Well, technically I’m starting with Dover but then what’s a country between friends.

It’s 6am, London, my friend Blake’s living room.

I am panicking. The site is not up. I haven’t packed.

I haven’t - most worryingly - got a sports bra.

I am 30. 9 months leaning over without adequate support is not going to do wonders for my marriage prospects.

I call Sophie. “Soph, you know you said you would help with any last minute favours…”

9.15 am. I am outside Jamie’s house. I am late. We are late. I call up. “Be down in 20 minutes, do you want a cuppa?” “20 minutes? 20 minutes? Why would I want a tea? I am too stressed for tea. Why is he not ready when we are already late? I haven’t put any make up on and there will be photographers. I huff. And then unpack my make up bag. I am putting on mascara in the road whilst simultaneously brushing my hair with my fingers. Buses ricochet past, missing me by inches. Jamie eventually emerges and we pedal off. The toothpaste and eyelash curler I had left on top of the pannier fly off at the Wandsworth intersection. “Keep going. There’s no time…..” I can probably live without an eyelash curler in Uzbekistan.

10am. We get to City Hall picking up Iain on the way down Tooley St. He is late too as he was at the estate agent at 8.30 renting his house out. We grab some food while branding our bikes. Organisation is not at a premium. I panic further as, when we do get to City Hall, I have to line up for the metal detector in order to go to the loo. I have steel cleats in my cycling shoes. This would not be a good time to set off a security alert.

10.30 am. Various friends, family and photographers have now arrived and we are hustled and bustled through a series of shots and muddled interviews. Totally out of our depth in every way. A bird eats the majority of my breakfast. Bloody bird.

11am. Boris arrives for 10 minutes. He is just as we imagined. “These solar panels are amazing. We should get some for the building.” “Erm - we have them sir…” “You can’t promote Nokia Mr Johnson” “But I have a Nokia. Look. It’s here…” etc.

11.15 am. We leave. Take One. I.e. we aren’t actually ready to leave but the photographers want to take some pictures. We do a flyby of City Hall. The security guards are not happy. We are leaving for our round the world bike ride but aren’t technically supposed to be cycling near the building.

11.30 am. Timmy and Nial, the two friends starting the journey with us, finally turn up. We leave properly after quick hugs to everyone there. We are devastated to have to go when so many people have come along to say goodbye but are extremely touched that they have. I fall off my bike as we push off. 

11.45 am. We stop round the corner to finish packing.

12.15 am. I cycle into Iain (for the first time) and graze my knee. We have not yet reached Greenwich.

And so it continues. 

Throughout the rest of the day we had punctures, flying panniers, got lost and hit torrential downpours and gusts that stopped us in our tracks down steep hills. We also started talking in Australian accents (still no idea why), had a glamourous lunch stop at Asda and found out early on just how good a hot shower, warm food and a soft bed can be when you have been pedaling in the wind and rain.

From there on it has been incredible. Though never short of challenges. We missed the ferry, I skidded over in front of a 10 tonne jugganaut, we were fighting a constant head wind and Timmy was invariably late for all proceedings.

Which brings me to – the team and the solar panels.

Firstly the team. It was an absolute treat to have both Timmy and Nial join us for the first few days. Both hilarious guys they brought humour to every stop and every hour in the saddle. Jamie and Iain too. Jamie – our French speaker – was also incredible at both navigation and locating enough food and wine at the end of a long day to renew our sapped spirits. Iain, on the other hand, has already gone down in the history books as an epic raconteur. “Reminds me of the time I was scaling the Eiger, my friend Ed had broken his leg in a fall so I had him across my shoulders when - astoundingly – we chanced upon two bikini clad members of the the Swedish lacrosse team…” Genius.

And so to the panels. As well as passing solar projects we want to highlight, we also have with us our very own micro power source. We have fixed panels on the front of our bikes as well as flexible ones sewn into our panniers. I would like to point out at this early stage that they are amazing. Not only have they resiliently survived my best efforts to destroy them (cycling shoes clip into your pedals, meaning that when you come to a halt you are still attached to the bike. I have learnt the hard way to remember to unclip instead of falling, like a newly felled tree, straight into the road…) but they have made it through wind, rain and even hail storms.

They will come into their own even more when we are in areas of the North African desert without power. Particularly since I have just found the ‘slide show’ function on my phone. Basically, you take photos and can then play them in conjunction with any of the songs you have stored. Surely that’s got Music Video written all over it….

Anyway, the five of us battled on. The landscape verdant and lush – if almost entirely devoid of people. France is a stunning country but it does tend to close quite a bit. “Really the restaurant doesn’t open at lunch?” “No because I am ‘aving my lunch…”

In the smaller towns and villages though we were met with offers of coffee, friendly curiosity and - with regard to Iain’s mime skills - not a little bemusement.

We have also been amazed by the support from friends and family. Not least Jamie’s Dad who came to visit us in Dijon. We arrived at the campsite following a near 100 mile day just before the heavens opened. The fact that Mr Vining had arrived earlier, set up a gazebo and was cooking up a pasta feast was nothing sort of a miracle.

It was in Dijon too that we visited our first solar project. Again receiving nothing but kind generosity.

Though it was a local holiday, Marc Benmarraze of Solar Euromed greeted us with the Mayor of Genlis. We were given a demonstration of the Concentrating Solar Power project, medals and a large tray of cakes. Absolutely wonderful.

I am currently writing a ‘Solar Projects’ page with full details but in brief: Solar Euromed are building the first CSP plant in France and helping develop more cost efficient flat mirror technology. They have negotiated a tariff to get this clean energy into the French national grid and are also working to bring local industry and energy to Africa with their future endeavors. A fantastic initiative.

But – though we had an amazing time in Dijon – sadly it was here that Timmy finally gave up on his attempt to join us to Cairo. In the first couple of days he had picked up a knee injury and the constant pedaling was not allowing it to heal. So it was only the SolarCycle team and Nial who headed further South to Lyon. Finding blossom filled fields and villages laden with ornate ironwork and ivy covered churches.

As we made our way down the Rhone valley these gave way to drier hillsides, medieval citadels and roman amphitheatres. Nial had to head home before reaching the home of Asterix and Obelix which was another sad blow but as he headed back North the winds turned and we literally flew the last 200km to Marseille.

The difference that head winds make is absolutely phenomenal. In the wrong direction it feels like a relentless uphill struggle. With the ‘Mistral’ winds behind you though, there are times when your legs just can’t pedal fast enough. After two weeks that had included lightening, 36 degree humidity and meteoric downpours it was a wonderful relief to find he temperatures drop down to 28 and have the wind at our backs.

So - after a final night staying in the stunning Salon de Provence (where we made the most of the last chance for haute cuisine by having a curry) we whizzed down to Marseille and the ferry to Tunisia. 

As I am writing this I am looking out of the window onto the Azure sea from my friend Marc’s living room. It is wonderful. He has been fantastic and Tunis has surpassed all my expectations. The architecture is stunning, the medina a hubub of frenetic energy and last night we went to a party that got closed down by the President… but that’s another story. So I shall love you and leave you till another time.

We have a day off and the beach is right outside….

Susie xxx

Time for a quick overview of our 1000 km through France and put up some hard cycling facts.

Having had some terrible weather in Blighty for our first 125km it was a relief to find better conditions in France. On a whole we’ve been fairly lucky with the weather despite strong headwinds, heavy downpoors, thunder, lightening and energy sapping heat. It seems no matter what the conditions are we manage to have a good old moan. I think when we reach the heat of Africa we’ll find we’ve had it easy so far, especially considering the generally fantastic road surface conditions of france. Surprisingly, the road condition alone is enough to increase or decrease our speed by 5/7 km/h which makes a big difference when we’re on the road for about 6 hours a day.

Our biggest problems seem to have centered around France being closed, at least whatever we need at the time. Campsites, food shops, tourist information, cycling shops etc, however, there have been no major disasters appart from maybe the smell due to lack of a shower when free camping. I was expecting to find that navigation may become an issue. I thought I’d become very unpopular as I was volunteered for the navigation role and no-one likes to cycle an extra 10km at the end of the day because someone got lost. However, in this respect the phones have come into their own showing just how useful GPS is on a bike. I hope my map reading skills are up to the challenge if for some unknown reason my GPS fails, let us hope that day never comes.

France itself has shown us some stunning scenery right from the off and is very interesting to see how quickly and dramatically it can change, even on the relatively slow pace of a bike. From the lush green rolling hills and open countryside in the North, with tall slated houses, then, the flatter planes in the valley, full of vines and red tiled houses to the more dramatic rocky peaks next to the calm flat Rhone river in the South. All the while Susie playing spot the chateau and, I wonder if they’d let us camp there? Some of the castles and chateau’s really make an impression as you turn a corner as they seem to take up the entire horizon.

Now for those of you willing enough to sit through our stats I think you’ll find some very interesting reading, at least, i find it interesting!

FACT ATTACK

• 15th May: from City Hall, London to Dover
• Trip Distance: 126.86km
• Trip Time: 6h19m
• Average Speed: 20.07km/h
• Max Speed:  51.31km/h

• 16th May: from Dover, England to Arras, France 
• Trip Distance: 125.45km
• Trip Time: 6h18m
• Average Speed: 19.89km/h
• Max Speed: 55.34km/h

• 17th may: from Arras to St. Quentin
• Trip Distance: 90.25
• Trip Time: 5h4m
• Average Speed: 17.79km/h
• Max Speed: 49.39km/h

• 19th May: from St. Quentin to Chateau Thiery
• Trip Distance: 112.58km
• Trip Time: 5h35m
• Average Speed: 20.16km/h
• Max Speed: 51.31km/h

• 20th May: from Chateau Thiery to Troyes
• Trip Distance: 118.42km
• Trip Time: 5h37m
• Average Speed: 21.07km/h
• Max Speed: 57.21km/h

• 21st May: from Troyes to Dijon
• Trip Distance: 156.87km
• Trip Time: 7h31m
• Average Speed: 20.83km/h
• Max Speed: 61.06km/h

• 23rd May: from Dijon to Macon
• Trip Distance: 153.15km
• Trip Time: 7h06m
• Average Speed: 21.54km/h
• Max Speed: 46.59km/h

• 24th May: from Macon to Chanas
• Trip Distance: 133.09km
• Trip Time: 6h37m
• Average Speed: 20.08km/h
• Max Speed: 55.34km/h

• 25th May: from Chenlas to Montelimar
• Trip Distance: 108.63km
• Trip Time: 5h10m
• Average Speed: 20.92km/h
• Max Speed: 54.86km/h

After three long, hard and hot days in the saddle we have followed the river Rhone 240 miles south to Montelimar, an ancient town on the banks of the river. Our route from Dijon was meant to follow the Rhone which has carved out a cycling friendly gorge through the  hills of the Massif Central which rise menacingly on either side of the river. The valleys are littered with vineyards as the Burgundy wine region stretches south from Dijon and then beyond Lyon, turns into the Rhone wine region. Our enthusiasm to get off the beaten track occasionally got the better of us which with hindsight wasn’t too clever when the thermometer hit 36C, the afternoon wind pounded us head on and we found ourselves far from the flat roads going over way more hills then our legs would have liked. 

We have been really lucky to have 2 fantastic friends ride with us for the first section of the trip. Nial ‘Sensational’ Phillimore took a week off work to ride from London to Lyon with us and has sadly left to head back to London and his job. Timmy ‘The Cowboy’ Manners, who hopes to ride with us to Cairo if the circumstances allow, will be rejoining us in Marseille having given his knees, which have been savaged by the surgeons knife and years of snowboarding, a rest. Both are hilarious lads and have been a massive asset, expanding both our vocabularies and our repertoire of jokes although perhaps not always for public consumption…

And now back to Montelimar. Never has a town revealed more after a little scratch below the surface. Not only is Montelimar widely regarded as the world nougat capital but we are told it is also famous for its service station (!).  This service station does all the normal normal service station stuff like selling petrol but it also offers such leisure activities as scuba diving and fencing! Now I have been to a few service stations in my time but rarely have I had the urge to give fencing a quick go. Maybe I am missing something here.  The town has also managed to acquire a sister town in Nicaragua which seems somewhat strange although the local town council members apparently generally sport decent January tans, all for the good of the town we’re told…

We left Troyes on Thursday morning and after a rather unexpected 100 miles through some beautiful but increasingly hilly countryside arrived at Dijon in a huge thunderstorm having bizarrely nearly witnessed a small plane crash land while Susie was hanging off a 10 foot road sign (its a long story…). The mad rush to get to Dijon depite aching limbs was due to an appointment with both the head of a solar company and the Mayor of Genlis on Friday morning. Despite a few language issues we were presented with some medals by the Mayor and shown round the offices and the CSP projects of Solar Euromed. They were all extremely kind but i did learn that even if the conversation is not necessarily flowing its probably better not to try and throw out a few half baked facts about the President of France in front of 15 locals.

We continue south today in the direction of Lyon and remain on track to be in Marseille by the 28th where we catch our ferry to North Africa.

We leave Dijon a little wiser, we now know that when someone says the going is flat, the fact that 6 of the towns you pass through have ‘Mont’ in their names might indicated otherwise. We know that Kir, as in the drink, was named after a former Mayor of Dijon (and is quite strong after 7 hours on a bike) and that asking for English mustard isn’t really that funny to the Dijon locals.

After 9 days on a recent sailing/kitesurfing trip where all we wanted was a few puffs of wind and where we got precisely none, we have spent the last 3 days wanting no wind and have had lots, right in our faces. It has made cycling the 200 miles through southern England and northern France hard work although Susie has out done all of the boys by throwing in a few regular stunts to make life even harder for herself. At the moment the scoreline is very much, Gravity 1, Susie 0. Her tally for falling off her bike while still attached to her pedals now totals an admirable 4, with perhaps her finest preformance taking place at 7am on Saturday going up the ramp to the channel ferry in cold, wet and rainy Dover with an appreciative audience of rather large truckers lined up behind her. We nearly laughed as much as the truckers (we couldn’t laugh more given we were wearing lycra so the joke was essentially on us too) although your daughter is absolutely fine if you are reading this Mrs Wheeldon…

We are currently having our first rest day in a town called St Quentin, just south of the Somme, where the countryside is littered with memorials and graves from WW1 which tends to put our aches and pains into perspective rather quickly. We have still to get used to the fact that everything seems to shut down in France at lunch time and the fact that the ‘A’ on a french keyboard is where the ‘Q’ is on a British one makes emailing a bit like doing the Krypton factor. Its been a busy day and there are still visas to arrange (take a deep breathe if you are going to Libya or Iran soon, its not the quickest procedure ever), supplies to buy and much schoolboy french to inflict on the poor locals so had better jump.

We also now have a little box on the front our our new webpage where you can sign up to receive emails of any future updates. Go on, you know it makes sense….

The rain was lashing down, the ten tonne trucks sideswiping us in the dark and the head winds so strong that even going downhill we weren’t moving, but we made it to Dover!

Drenched, exhausted and generally confused we eventually found my parents who bought us a mountain of takeaway pizza and fell into bed.

What a day?!

From a crazy barage of photographs and an incredible send off (well - technically two as we hadn’t actually finished packing first time round) to a puncture (Niall), flying pannier (Niall) and getting lost in Canterbury (Niall) a city we weren’t even meant to be going to.

And this morning we are waiting for the ferry (in the rain again) as we missed the one we were meant to get at 7.45 (Timmy…)

Man alive, these interlopers.

Though Jamie, Iain and I will be pedaling around the world our mates Niall and Timmy are joining us to Lyon and Cairo respectively. Trouble makers the both of them!

Just kidding - it is a pleasure to have them.

(Though I will report back on that statement in a week or so when they have truely tested my one stress weakness of punctuality… it’s my mothers fault - she is always at least three hours early for all transportational check-ins).

Anyway, better go before I am the one who makes us miss the next ferry but see you on the other side and a massive thank you to everyone who came down to see us off.

It was incredible!

Susie xx

So for anyone who is reading this for the first time…

Starting today - EU Solar Day no less - Jamie Vining, Iain Henderson and I will cycle 12,000 miles around the world promoting all things sun related.

The SolarCycle Diaires expedition aims to demonstrate and disseminate information about solar power and climate change solutions and raise money for the charity, SolarAid. We have had our panniers pimped (If C5 steal that, remember where it came from…) with flexible solar panels to provide a constant clean energy source and been sponsored by Nokia so that we can use their phones to be tracked and update this on-line diary from anywhere in the world. 

But it is all about the solar. So please check out the ‘Why Solar’ on here as well as the environmental sections. Oh and the kit page is good. And the route bit. Heck - have a good old rummage and feel free to follow us as we navigate the globe, looking at climate change solutions and getting into all sorts of mischief.

Please also take the time to help us by:

1. Joining the ‘We Support Solar’ campaign
2. Lending your voice to the Desertec concept 
3. Adding information about low-carbon travel on the Green Explorer, sustainable travel website
4. Donating to SolarAid
5. Emailing your friends about this site and petitioning your Government to take strong action at the UN Copenhagen Climate Change Conference 2009.

Thank you for checking out the site and please feel free to pass on to everyone you know!

Right, should probably go and pack… 

Susie xx

We have lift off. 

Well - almost lift off. We will do at 11am tomorrow from City Hall. And Boris is coming along too. Well to say goodbye at least - though he is more than welcome to join us should the mood take.

There is one small issue in that we can’t actually cycle on outside the Mayor’s office but if you are around then please come and say hi for the push off!

Still a fair few things to do in the next 20 hours but - now we have got our ferry tickets to include bikes rather than dogs (that could have been awkward) - we are all on track.

So about that rain…..

xx

A small bead of sweat trickled down my face. My lungs filled and the burn spread slowly down my calves. I was pedaling. Digging in hard. Giving it everything I had. Cars rocked passed on my right. And - as I looked left across the bridge - I saw the dramatic sight of parliament across the Thames. And still parliament. Still parliament… In transpired that, despite my exertions, I was not technically moving. At all. 

Ah - headwind. You’ve gotta love it. 

Fingers are severely crossed that the blustery gales outside die down by Friday. Though it did lend this morning’s Nokia photo shoot a certain ‘Beyonce hair billowing effect’. And that was just Iain.

Earlier on today we found ourselves on the terrace of Solar Century being told that we might want to try not to look SO miserable (not ’sultry’ and ‘alluring’ then..) showcasing our solar panniers, the panels on their roof and the big spot on my chin. Very entertaining. A huge thank you to all concerned. Especially the Solar Century staff who came out to wave us off. We are highlighting their great ‘We Support Solar’ campaign so if you have a second (go on - doesn’t take long) feel free to sign up here.

After that it was phone training. Jamie has now been appointed chief technical expert. And navigator. And mechanic. And I am getting the Sat Nav on my phone in case for any reason Iain or I have to take charge!

Which makes tomorrow downloading day. Music, maps, directions in a French accent… man - it’s a whole new world out there. And you don’t even have to leave the living room. 

Which is lucky, as the rains are coming to accompany those winds… 

3 days and counting.

xx

Bit of a battle this week. You know those moments when you start regretting that trip to the pub/walk in the park/decision to learn the trapeze because you should really have been doing work instead. Well, that was pretty much week 3 before launch. 

Now, well into countdown week 2, I have decided it is simply fated that we are still in utter pandemonium as - when we actually set off - the calm serenity of cycling will be even more poignant.

It was either that or having a breakdown….

Anyway - everything is off at pace. We have tents, we have sleeping bags, we have 10 killer diseases each. We had a brilliant fundraising comedy night (thanks so much Timmy), designed all the branding, did some training, sent our wonderful friend Phil to a meeting in Helsinki (well he was going anyway - saved on carbon…) learnt first aid, fixed bikes, wrote a press release, worked on the new website (coming very soon…) and actually did some climate change research*.

So now it is on to - making a music video and organising the party!

Whoop xx

*N.B. it transpires that - though vital - this type of research is probably best avoided when already in a heightened state of panic.