wiles9

And we are starting to get a bit nervous!!!

We leave for the Barcelona to Belfast tour! ( We being my girl and I )

Lots of things have changed since last time i really posted in here!! Because of Duke (Kyle Archer), we found www.couchsurfing.com a great way to get in touch with other people, and find a place to crash!

I really reccommend this website for tourers!!! The more on it the better, they even have a cycling and touring section! If you join it, angela and I go under the name wiles9

Our route is still developing and changing, working round words of advice from people! And our charity website is up to start raising some money!

The blog we have going is:

www.barcelonatobelfast.blogspot.com

Like ive said, still not much there, but its about to get really busy!!!

Our kitlist is as good as complete now, spare parts collected, stove and fuel packed etc. Maybe we will post some photos soon! The bikes just got collected from our LBS after a good full service. They knew of our tour, so closely inspected them, as expected not much was out of place. Small gear adjustments, some grease on the cables, and angelas breaks re-adjusted (much better now)

So keep an eye on our blog, feel free to leave some comments! And hope we make it through the pyrenees alive!!!

Ill hopefully post again Sunday before we leave...

Cya!
Steve and Angela!

Gotte

Hey, great to see it's come together, even if it's changed from last time. Good luck (though I'm sure you won;t need it. I'm sure it will be the best thing you've ever done. I envy you. I'll be interested to read your blog, as I'm due to be doing a charity ride next Spring which will start in Barcellona and take in Girona and the nicer parts of the Costa Brave. I'll be interested in what you have to say about it, even though I notice you're headed more inland.

You should post your justgiving page here, so people can donate. I will, though it'll have to wait till I get paid. It's a good cause (lost my father a few years ago to the big C, and my father in law a few months ago, so understand only too well the important work hospices do).

I went on a 9 day tour in the Black Forest this spring and decided to raise money for the Autistic society. It was at the last minute, really, only set the justgiving page up a couple of weeks before I went, but still managed to raise £630, which is not big money in the greater schemem of things, but big enugh to make it worth while (my target had been £500, so it was good to see that it was exceeded). I think the only downside to Justgiving is that I found I had to pester people to get them to donate. Not that they didn;t want to, just they would forget, or simply put it off because it is a bit of a pain filling in the donation form (so be prepared to pester - me included if I forget).

The only touring advice I'd give you is remember chapstick. I didn;t think I'd need it becasue it was hot, but blimey, was I wrong. I'd also get hold of some antibiotics,though looking at your timeframe, I figure you will have missed the doctor's now. I got some before I went because I knew I coudn;t really take even a day out to go to a hospital or doctor's should I get an infection, and you know what, I split a toenail and got it infected, and if I hadn; had the antibiotics it almost certainly would have scuppeered my trip, or lost us a lot of time, at any rate.

I take it you're flying. Are you using bags? What's your bike packing strategy? Which airline are you going with?
Or is it all in your blog?

Anyway, good luck, enjoy yourselves. Have a cerveza for me (or a Guiness when you get back home)

All the best, Phil

wiles9

Hey thanks for that post....

The blog.. if i get time.. should soon have everything in it... we leave for the first days cycling today now, and its 12.38am... we plan to start at 6am..... so not much sleep.. bit nervous.. bit of everything actually.. and still packing..

Chapstick packed.. antibiotics.. i have everysort of medication i need under the sun, cept this.. never got time... and well.. forgot haha..

Ill get back and post in 10 minutes.. just gonna go update my blog.. ang is still packing haha!!! Last minute or what.. typical students.

ronfinch

good luck!

DukeArcher 

Good luck and glad I could help! 9 days until I leave on my trip!!

wiles9

So yeah.. im really tired right now.. but still here.. i added a leaving party to my blog, but not much more.

Hope you find lots of spelling mistakes..


for donating money!! please visit

https://www.justgiving.com/barcelonatobelfast

Any money is appreciated, its a great cause, as gotte already mentioned.

wiles9

Man were tired hahaha.. you guys are all right about the first week...

Read up the blog if your interested.. we found an internet cafe, and will be finished updating in about half an hour..

www.barcelonatobelfast.blogspot.com

Thanks for the donation Philip, you are the second online person to donate!! Still havent had time to advertise everything!! Im sure next time we will get round to it!! Really appreciated!!!

Gotte

My pleasure, I'm off to see your blog now. Keep up the good work.