6,000 miles by bicycle to East Africa, for rural Kenyan schools
Down Right Kenya is a cycle ride in aid of a charity that supports schools in rural Kenya. Three teams of cyclists headed across Europe, hanging a right through the Middle East, and carried on down through Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopea and into northern Kenya. The latest news from the teams is below - but do also browse through the links on the right though to find out more about the ride and check out the route and daily reports on the map. Oh - and don't forget to visit the sponsorship page to show your support!
As penance for somehow breaking the JustGiving total amount indicator, Andy has told me I have to write a quick blog!
The amount (before Andy’s nifty calculator crashed) was over £61,000, which is fabulous news that means we’ve even exceeded our target of £60,000! That’s great news for HSK, as it should fund a new secondary school with hopefully a little bit left for some of the other schools HSK supports. A very special thanks to the gang at Bike Asia www.bikeasia.com who raised £900 for us.
I’ve been off the bike nearly 3 months now which is hard to believe. There’s rarely been a day where I’ve not reminisced about some aspect of the trip, which feels like a lifetime ago. From when I open the fridge in the morning (to an overwhelming number of refrigerated goodies), to when I bed down to read by the light of a lamp (as opposed to a very dim head torch), virtually everything is a reminder of where I am not!
The first month was a real struggle – trying to get used to a life where things were easy (get out of bed and leave the house, rather than pack it all up afterwards!) and every day didn’t bring a new challenge. You get surprisingly used to having to prepare yourself for anything that gets thrown at you… literally and figuratively. Slowly things have begun to normalise, though I always love coming across people who have heard through the grapevine you’ve recently cycled to Kenya… and you get a chance to tell your favourite stories all over again. And no, the one about the long drop isn’t part of the repertoire!
Thanks again for your ongoing interest in our big adventure, and keep an eye out for an update on what’s happening with HSK soon.
I’ve been trawling through the somewhat erratic footage we had taken of our arrival ceremony. Below is Pt 1 - the final 15km taking us to the church. Pt 2 will follow soon, but to give you a taster I’ve posted a video of Clifford ‘Father Christmas’ Dann doing his best Desmond Tutu impression.
Last night the six riders who returned from Kenya met up in Cambridge to catch up on new haircuts and indulge in a long anticipated curry. We were also reconvening to give a talk to anybody who was willing to listen about the who, what, where and why of Down Right Kenya. After an introductory photo montage (see links below) the talk proper started. By means of introduction Adam took the micky out of every rider with those not present bearing the brunt (Mark remains in Kenya working at a local school [see message below] and Sarah is back in Oz [see video below]). Then Den took us through what kit was needed for the trip before Simon attempted to describe an ‘average day’ in the saddle. It was then Sam’s responsibility to outline the why and wherefore of the various school presentations en route, before Xina described why HSK so desperately needs the money we’re raising. PK then wrapped things up with some very welcome news of a very generous £8,000 donation from the John Henry Memorial Fund.
The evening was a great success, not least because it contributed £180 to our funds - thanks to all those who came along, donated and laughed in the right places.
So, watch a truncated version of the photo montage (shortened to 8:53 to fit on YouTube, click ‘HQ’ button for best quality) below, or…
…you can download the full montage at full screen resolution (70MB) by following the ‘Download this file’ link here, or, there’s also a full length but smaller size (32MB) version available here.
Sarah’s ‘Hello’:
And, last, but not least, Nasha’s message:
‘Hello everyone and thanks for coming to the presentation, im sorry I cant be there to greet you all and give you the dirt on all the other riders as im sure they are doing with me. Unfortunatly Kenyan internet didnt allow me to send a video, so I hope this msg will do.
I will keep it short, although there is so much to say, so many stories, Xinas boots, Team sporks beards that provided so much amusment whatever country we were in, Sams bike mending skills and razor sharp wit, Sarahs amazing ability to stay on her bike dispite her non existant coordination, Dens constant smile that only faded when I tried to tell a joke, and PKs constant somethimes suicidal enthusiasum, along with all the other people along the way we met or rode with, ill let everyone else tell you about these things.
But I did really want to say three things. First of all a massive THANK YOU to everyone sitting in this room right now, friends, family, the home team, random starngers, without peoples interest, support and generosity I dont think the ride would have been half as fun or possible as it was, perhaps it might not have been possible at all. When times got tough, during the long cold days through parts of Europe or the hot desert in Sudan, it was always the thought of all the people back home supporting us and having faith in us that would ultimatly keep us in the saddle no matter how uncofortable it got. So thank you for everything.
Secondly, to my fellow riders, it truly has been an honour over the past 6 months riding with you all, there were some pretty hard challanges, and at times spending so much time with each other could be pretty tough, but so many amazing qualities within you all helped me learn so much, and we had some amazing experiances! I am truly greatful that I can now call you all my friends. I really look forward to seeing you all when I get back home and hopefuly we can go riding again together one day, altough perhaps not for such a long time, I agree with you all that my feet got pretty smelly after 6 months!!!
And lastly, because he never takes enough credit and will try and hide the praise he deserves, Peter King, the instigator of this whole mad project deserves a huge thank you and to be recognised for all that he has acheived and all that he has helped us acheive! His unwavering faith in what we were all doing kept us going in the long months before, when we would turn to each other and ask what the hell we were thinking of….’it will be fine’ he would always say, ‘visas….no problem, wild animals and wars, piece of cake’, and to be honest, even when he was leading me 800km into the middle of knowhere, he was someone I always had and will always have unlimited faith in. So PK your a legend, and deserve to have at least one big applause dedicated to you right now (READER: please ask audiance to applause PK).
So now I will wrap up and say goodbye from Kenya, I am currently working at a school over here and hope to help out as much as possible with any HSK work I can, and will probably return at Christmas, so untill then, I look forward to seeing you all, take care everyone and thank you again.
And of corse one last thing…hello mum
Luckily it’s not one of us doing the cycling this time…since Mike Hurley has entered the ‘Ring of Kerry’ on 4th July to raise money for the charity on behalf of DRK. It’s a 112 mile beast of a ride, around the south west tip of Ireland: so very beautiful, and of course almost guaranteed to rain!
Mikey was a familiar face at the Outspoken office, where he spent a year as a cycle courier after finishing his PhD at Wolfson College. His infamous caffeine addiction (always entering the office with a breezy “it’s Coffee-O’Clock!”) is sorely missed, though it’s always great to hear updates on his new career: as a medical doctor in training at Birmingham Uni. He also hit the Cambridge news for a unique method of transporting his new wife from the church!
Bike Asia www.bikeasia.com who raised £900 for us.
