From @ride2romeTV a vlog telling the story of what will be the journey from St Catherine’s Hospice in Crawley UK to Rome by bike, pedalling across Europe to raise funds for the Hospice. The ride began on Sunday 15 June and followed the Pilgrims Way through Surrey and Kent. Graham Knight and his brother Martyn began the following day in Maidstone and this vlog tells the story of their 75 Km journey from there to the Port of Dover, where they will embark in September for the next leg of their challenge, through France, Switzerland and Italy.
For more information, check out the website on https://ride2rome.bike or to donate to St. Catherine’s to enable them to continue to provide the end-of-life care that is so important to both patients and their families, please visit justgiving.org/page/ride2rome.
Thanks, and enjoy the Ride2Rome with us!
[Music] my brother’s up ahead martin give me a wave you’re on camera yeah it’s been quite a morning uh we lost each other uh trying to get on the pilgrim’s way outside but uh yeah we’ve managed to link up again the county of Kent is called the Garden of England and it’s earned its name we’d followed the pilgrims way from Meren and it’d been absolutely beautiful down narrow lanes through forests and fields of crops ripening under the June sun now we were coming close to our first destination Canterbury no doubt it had been interesting we’d been challenged by a couple of hard climbs and this was Martin’s first experience of riding green lanes and rocky paths [Music] heat heat [Music] well you wouldn’t know it but we’re actually outside Canterbury Cathedral uh I’m doing some work on it um anyway we went in we’ve just had our our uh credencial uh stamped uh those are our pilgrim passports they’ve been stamped in the uh visitor center so that’s the reason why we came to Canterbury we didn’t want to pay 20 quid to go in the cathedral we’ve already been there once um and it’s really interesting we should go um but uh we yeah we’ve done our uh uh we’ve done our tour and uh yeah we’re we’re here how do you feel i feel good actually surprisingly good you don’t want to say what happened on the way do you no no i wasn’t going to mention it at all you weren’t going to mention not at all not even tempted yeah yeah i crashed it was a very slight off um at low speed um but incredibly embarrassing nevertheless uh right so uh we’re now going over well next stop patrick’s born back to meet the lovely Mrs knight yep our support driver today and then on to do yeah yeah okay what can possibly go wrong nothing nothing all right see you later [Music] heat [Music] heat [Music] [Applause] [Music] and so it was off to do to tell the truth the past two days had taken their toll anyone who tells you you don’t have to be fit to ride a bike has probably never done 100 km in the saddle and no amount of pasta porridge energy drinks bananas and fruit bars not to mention lots of water is going to hide the reality that at a given moment you’re going to hit a wall i trained for this but as it turned out not enough and I was struggling it was only 17 miles from Canterbury to do but it felt like 170 fortunately Martin was around to keep my spirits up and when we stopped at Shepherd’s Well for lunch our support driver my wife Jan was there with vital supplies hola hola white Cliffs of Dova and the PMO ferry behind me yeah we’re here we’ve made it and as my brother pointed out we we’re actually just 10% of the way to Rome we’ve got another 1,800 kilometers to go but this feels it just feels great to have been here the last two days have really been quite the test of you know what we can do and uh yeah poor old Martin’s had to ride the last four or five miles with only four or five gears uh which hasn’t been ideal but uh he’s a trooper and he can do these kind of things uh I’d have just laid down on the ground screaming I can tell you but but he’s uh yeah he’s a lot more practical than I am anyway so I’ll leave you here in Dova we come back here on September the second is it Martin september the 2nd for the next part of the Via Franc Jana and the ride to Rome see you then i crossed empty deserts and flown in feed skies the deepest dions where wind temples lie but I can’t surrender to the greatest adventure spending all my life with you is the greatest adventure ever then I saw that tree from a window in the snow branches bearing desol but still a sign of hope i had reach fantasies echoing in my heart