craig_foster

Hey guys, Greetings from Szeged!!! Well it's Sunday morning and I'm about to leave Hungary and enter Serbia and Montenegro. I was up at 6am this morning and got a quick 20 miles in so a coffee and an email seems deserved before I head for the border. I left Slovakia about 3 days ago and it's there that Ben and I went our separate ways at a non-descript bridge on the Slovakian-Hungarian border. He headed South-West to Croatia and I headed South East to Budapest. It felt strange saying bye as you get used to cycling with someone pretty quickly. It was good to have the company both from the companionship aspect and also the sharing of the responsibilities. Bratislava was a fantastic city. One of my favourites so far. We played tourist for a few hours, looking at the beautiful architecture and soaking up the exotic ambiance of an East European city. For the single guys out there, the city also had the best looking women I've ever seen in one place. Ben and I agreed we had to leave or maybe we never would. For once, leaving the city proved to be pretty easy as we just headed for the Danube and carried on East. We spent the night in a small town called Sap and pitched on the local football pitch which the locals generously offered to us instead of continuing to the next camp site. As it was going to be our last day cycling together, we treated ourselves to a meal at a local restaurant. Everything is much cheaper since I left the EU and I had baked salmon, two desserts and two beers all for about 4 quid. As a bonus the people were also friendly with a local beauty translating the menu for us as both mine and Ben's Slovakian is a bit lacking. Best food I'd eaten since leaving the UK but tbf it was mainly up against pasta and the like. The day after and I was in Budapest. Three European capitals in four days. tbh I made a bit of a mistake as I arrived there around three in the afternoon so didn't have as much time as I'd have liked. It's a fantastic city and the people were incredibly friendly for a big city. Three groups of people approached me separately, asking me questions and offering well wishes on my journey. At one point I was trying to hold a conversation with two groups of people as others would overhear and come and listen. Earlier in my trip, people always commented on how far I had to go and how little I'd done but now the miles are increasing, the emphasis has changed to an interest of where I've been. One guy in Budapest even gave me some money as good luck for the road ahead. Maybe that's what got me out of Budapest as it's a tough city to leave. The roads are pretty busy and not really designed for cyclists so I had to have my Bradford Road awareness head in full operation. It didn't help when my front rack broke and I needed to do some emergency repairs on the road side. As a cycle route, Hungary has been great. It's as flat as a pancake and yesterday was another 100 mile day. I saw a campsite on the map and promised myself I'd treat myself if it was after the 100 mile mark. Turned out to be 99 miles so I carried on another few miles and slept in the forest. I must have chosen to sleep near some kind of local lovers lane as cars kept pulling up and I'd hear giggling and talking before driving off (presumably she said no). Last night was also the first night I chanced sleeping under the stars since Denmark as the weather has been awesome. Luckily no rain and a good night's sleep. The people of Hungary have also been very accommodating regardless of the language barrier. Hopefully the flat terrain will continue. I haven't seen a hill since Amberg in South Germany and it's been bliss. The downside is I reckon my legs have forgotten what a steep hill feels like and I'm hoping they don't complain too much when called back into action. I've had a quick look at the map and I reckon south Serbia and Montenegro is when the hills start and then continue all the way into Greece. I have a friendly face to meet up with in Greece which is something to look forward to. Not sure when I'll hit Athens but I'm reckoning on 10 days. I'm still undecided about India as doing the sums, even if I cycle round SE Asia 10 times I'd still get to Oz too early for the end of the rainy season. I'm considering doing the opposite and heading straight to SE Asia from Athens and then trying to get to Oz before the rainy season starts. This would have the obvious disadvantage of cycling Oz in the summer, but would also mean I'm doing NZ at a more pleasant time of year and then across the States in the spring. Then I'd probably come back through Europe from Spain or Portugal, through France and then England. I'm still undecided but I'm leaning in this direction as the idea of having to slow down just doesn't appeal to me. I love putting the big miles in and I'd rather continue in this vein rather than just feel I'm passing the time. Catch you all later. A border post manned by what will no doubt be an incredibly unfriendly man awaits me. Lots of love as always Craig. XXX

Yo dudes and dudettes, Greetings from Bratislava capital of Slovakia!!! Thought I'd send another email as I guess the northern European leg of my journey is over as I now enter Southern Europe specifically the Balkans. As irony would have it, since my last email I've done nothing but meet people. I guess it was to be expected as the Danube Cycle route is a cycling mecca and so the opportunities increase exponentially. The cycle route itself is fantastic. Over a thousand miles of flat, mostly tarmac extending from south-west Germany to Budapest. The German section appears to be a favourite holiday route for families and it's not unusual to see entire families including grandparents and kids. As an introduction to touring it's ideal with beautiful cities and historic sites all along the route as well as plenty of camp sites and rooms for rent. In Passau I met a dutch guy and we spent the night drinking and talking cycling. Interesting bloke who broke up with the love of his life four years ago and decided he wanted some time out and has been cycling round Europe since. Seems a common theme that massive cycling tours start with something sad. On the way out of Passau I hooked up with a French bloke called Ben and we've been cycling together since. It's been good to have the company and it's also helped on the cycling front as we share the lead and managed 105 miles on our first day together. The contrast between the two of us is interesting. He's basically has a tent, a duvet and a few days clothing. I almost feel embarrassed when I pull out my state of the art camping equipment. I cooked him his first hot meal in two weeks as he basically survives on bread, cheese and tomatoes. He's also a lot more forward then me and is happy to ask people if we can camp in their garden over night. Being typically French he has no real idea where he's going. I think today we're going to go our separate ways as he heads back home via Zagreb and I head down to Budapest. Last night we met two Austrian women. We'd stopped off in a small town to ask for water at a house. We were going to ask if we could pitch in the garden but it was a B&B and it felt a bit cheeky. As we were leaving town we saw two women, one whose bicycle had a puncture. Being the man carrying the entire world I offered to fix the puncture as they were on a short tour so weren't carrying any equipment. They were also looking for a room and I pointed them in the direction of the B&B we'd been given water. I then had the bright idea of getting them to ask the owner if we could pitch in the garden as we all know men are a sucker for a pretty female. Obviously the guy agreed and so we had a prime bit of camping for the night. Afterwards we joined the girls for dinner (after they suggested we shower) and they insisted on paying for the meal. As usual, the bar had the standard local drunk who insisted on singing Bob Dylan songs to us and inviting us to a party which we had to decline as I suspect the party consisted of just him. I told him I was trying to break the world record for solo cycling round the world so had to be up early. It just goes to show what a single act of kindness can achieve good company, good food and a cracking night. Yesterday we also did a quick tourist tour of Vienna. Another beautiful city but like Hamburg a bit too city. I prefer Bratislava as, apart from being cheaper, it seems a lot more personal. I'll probably head out from Bratislava this afternoon down to Budapest. Being on my own again will be difficult to get used to as it has been enjoyable having someone to ride with. I guess the Danube trail has been a break for me from the usual hardship of hills and sleeping in the forest. After Budapest it's down to Athens which I'll approach from the north-east and then fly to India. The weather also seems to have improved as I've headed south which was my intention from the start. Chasing the sun. I may have a few days off in Greece. Maybe lie on the beach and read while I wait for my flight to India. We'll see as always. One thing that this is teaching me is that anything can happen so plans need to be pretty loose. The miles keep clocking up and I've done just under 2000 miles. I'm off to see the sights of Bratislava with Ben the Frenchman now before we say our farewells. Catch you all later and as always lots of love. Craig.

Up until a few nights ago I'd say my memory of Germany would have consisted mainly of rain. Lots and lots of rain. The campers amongst you would know that rain is your enemy. Everything gets wet and then it stays wet. You never get to dry anything so, at night, you just get back into your wet tent, on your wet mattress into your damp sleeping bag. Then you get up and cycle in your wet clothes on your wet bike. You get the picture. On more than a few nights I haven't been able to find anywhere to pitch the tent so it's a case of climbing under the tarpaulin and trying to get some sleep which, once it starts raining, just doesn't work. To get round this I bought a bivvy bag. Basically a waterproof sleeping bag. Easier to pitch and requires much less ground space. Turned out to be an inspired buy because it hasn't rained during the night since. Just rained lots during the day. Now I need a bivvy bag for cycling in. On the cycling front it's also been a lot tougher than Denmark or Sweden. It's been difficult to keep up my target of 60 miles a day as the landscape has taken on an almost Norwegian feel to it but without the 16 hours of sunlight so I've had less cycling time. The hills have been short, sharp and painful. An analogy I thought of while riding was that it reminded me of a time when I was a kid and I got trapped in the surf break in Durban. Everytime a wave hit me and I'd come up for air, there'd be another waiting for me , looming, ready to break. That's what the hills felt like In South Germany. On a personal note it's been tough. It's mainly my fault for picking a non-tourist route and for not learning German. It's been very difficult to meet people and that, coupled with the rain and the hills meant I've had a few of those wtf am I doing moments. My idea has been to initiate a plan I call the Pob plan. It's a bit like town twinning but of some actual use. The idea is that each town nominates a group of Pobs. Their basic role is to ensure that if a foreign visitor turns up in the town then a Pob is called upon to meet him in the pub. From there they get drunk together and then in true Pob style they just shout at each other so language becomes irrelevant. After 4 pints or so they basically speak the same langauage anyway. The night will end with the foreigner being invited round for a night of poker where he's fleeced for a fiver or two. On the subject of rain it was the rain that led to one of the more bizzare nights of my life. I'd been riding in the rain as per usual except this was torrential to the point I couldn't see where I was going. I took cover under a tree in this field that contained a massive tent. German heavy metal music was coming from the tent so I figured I'd stay pretty much where I was. I was just about to leave and Rolling Stones started playing and I figured what the hell, anyone playing Rolling Stones has to be half decent maybe they'd let me camp there for the night. Went round to ask the question and it turns out I've walked into what appears to be a Hell's Angel meet. About 20 bikers standing there looking as hard as nails. I can't back out now so I ask the question and luckily a couple of them speak English so they agree on the condition I sit and have a beer with them. "No I'll just camp thanks" didn't really seem to be on the cards so I figure wtf, in for a penny and all that. Turns out to be one of the best nights of my trip so far. Nicest bunch of blokes you could wish to meet. The president was hammered but seemed to take a shine to me and even though he couldn't speak a word of English, after 4 double JDs, neither could I so we just said cheers all night and kept knocking them back. Every time I had an empty glass someone would bring me a drink. At one point I had three glasses of booze and two plates of food in front of me. On top of that they even gave me my own tent so I didn't even have to pitch. We stayed up till 2ish singing German songs as by this time I was fluent in German and generally having a cracking time. This was the type of thing I'd come for. German unification was discussed and it was great to hear how people feel about it. The differences between the older guys who felt East German and the younger who felt German. These guys loved their bikes as well and I was given a full tour of pretty much every bike with the differences and reasoning for the differences explained. Later on in the night they made me an honoury member and gave me the badge of the club to be sewn on my panniers at a later date. In the morning I set off and they'd keep motoring past me shouting "Englishman" and generally scaring the expletive deleted out of me. Since then it's been mainly hard riding again. I'm currently averaging about 400 plus miles a week. After the hills of Southern Germany I joined up with the Danube trail at Regensburg which is a cycling mecca. It's hundreds of miles of flat cycle path which follows the River Danube all the way from South West Germany to Budapest. I haven't had a day off the bike since Gothenberg but last night, I found a great little campsite in the centre of Passau and decided to give myself a full day off before I head out into Austria in the morning. I'll probably stop off again in Vienna and then it's a case of deciding whether I want to head down into Italy or the Balkans. The Balkans seem favourite at the moment as this would negate the need for a ferry across to Greece. The speed of my progess has led a few people to question if I'm giving myself enough time to enjoy what I'm doing. tbh it's also the sense of achievement of putting the miles away that I'm enjoying. I know when I reach the right place I'll take a breather. I knew Hamburg wasn't the right place. It's a great city but too cold, too city. Today for example I'm going to play the tourist. Passau is a beautiful city built where three rivers join and has what looks to be a great cafe culture. More importantly it has some bookshops which I'm hoping have enough English books to get me to Vienna. I finished my John Irving book yesterday and one thing the lone traveller needs is a good supply of reading material. Then I'm going to hit the cafes and sit, read and watch the world go by. I'm still enjoying what I'm doing. It's different to how I imagined. It's much tougher for one and I'm aware it'll get tougher. The thing is that I know I can do it and tbh that's a great feeling. Everyday holds the potential for something different although in Germany it's usually just been rain but hey it can't all be fun and games. The interesting thing is the appreciation it gives you for the smallest things. I kind gesture from a stranger, a conversation, a piece of music, a sunny day. Everything just feels more important. I'm still not sure how this will end. I mean how it'll effect me. In terms of distance I'm around 10% of the way through so I've tried to analyse how it'll change me if at all but I'm still not sure. When I started I thought it'd change me into someone who was more inclined to seek people out. Less introverted. I don't think it's going to be like that though. I'll still be the guy who sits and watches people. It's just the way I am and maybe this is more about accepting that than changing it. We'll see. Apologies for the introspective nature of this email but as I said at the start this is also for me. I'll look back at these email and it'll be interesting to identify how I felt and why. I gues that's the defintion of an introvert. Someone who looks inside for the answers. Anyways catch you guys later. Once again a cafe awaits me. Love Craig. XXX

Greetings from Hamburg!!! New country and a new keyboard. Damned Germans have moved the keys around again. Man Gothberg seems like years ago but alas it isn't. Well my day in Goteberg was brilliant. Luckily my alcohol tolerance has dropped to zero. I say luckily because at 5 pound a beer you don't to be spending too long in the pub. I met a cool Swedish cyclist and we sat and compared notes for a while and judged the Miss Sweden on a Bike contest that was obviously going on while we were in town. You can see why so many people cycle because it really is the best way to watch all the beautiful women on bikes. I treated myself to a Chinese afterwards which after a week of canned food and bananas was heaven. On the way out of Goteberg two lovely swedish women in a car asked me if I needed a lift. maybe they were joking or maybe they just wanted to use me as their sex toy all the way down to Malmo but being the dutiful round the world cyclist I am, I declined their admittedly tempting offer. After Goteberg I arrived at Varberg were the ferry leaves for Denmark. Originally I'd intended to cycle down to Malmo and then go across to Copenhagen but when I arrived in Varberg the ferry was leaving in 15 min and it seemed like a sign. On hindsight it was probably just a ferry but off I went to Denmark anyway. I originally intended to then cycle round to Copenhagen to meet up with Jorgi but it turned out she couldn't get there till the 13th which would have meant about 3 or 4 days hanging around an incredibly expensive city which I just couldn't afford so I scrapped those plans and headed for Germany. I enjoyed Scandinavia a lot. Their approach to life is incredibly relaxed. For starters their day seems to start so much later than our own. Even in Goteberg on a Friday morning at 9am the place was still quiet. Only at about 11 did life start picking up. On the cycling front it's one of the best places I've ever cycled. Their approach to traffic is entirely logical in that the most vulnerable tend to have the right of way so the pedestrians are more important the cyclists but the cyclists are more important than the cars. It isn't a half-arsed approach like we have in the UK where someone paints a few lines on the side of the road at inappropriate places and then the cars just park in the cycle lane anyway. It's all carefully thought out and hangs together perfectly. The effect this has on the community as a whole is obvious as people are always out and about on their bikes or walking. The stop and talk, they cycle as families, they spend time together. I think in the UK by becoming a car culture we've surrendered our communities and now people are scared of the world outside their houses and their cars. Entering Germany has been a new a different challenge for me. For one the sheer number of people mean many more towns and towns are an obstacle for a cyclist. Each town entered has to be exited and you'd be amazed how difficult it is to leave a town by bicycle. Most towns are designed for cars and so numerous exits aren't an option for me which has meant a lot of lost time just navigating my way around. The other difficulty is that they seem to operate a very similar system of land ownership to the UK so most land is fenced off or farmed. This combined with the number of towns obviously reduces my options for wild camping. Last night I found a good spot after about 50 miles but I wanted to press on past 70 miles for the day so carried on only to struggle for a spot. Then it started raining. I found a spot in the end but I'd lost the light so it was just a case of crawling under my tarpaulin, try and stay dry and get what kip I could. It's another lesson really that I should try and do more of my cycling in the early part of the day so I don't feel the need to press on so late. It's all lessons learn't. On hindsight I think I bivvy bag would have been a much better idea than a tent. Most nights I don't bother with the tent as it's too visible and just takes up too much space on the ground. The idea initially was that I'd be spending so much time in a tent that I'd be thankful for the additional space but in practice it hasn't turned out like that. I just stop cycling, get to sleep and then start cycling again. I bivvy would have been more suited I feel. At some point I may send the tent back to the UK and buy a bivvy bag. We'll see. As for the future, Germany is a big country and I don't think I'll be able to blast through it like I have the other countries. In a way that's a shame as I find cycling over a border to be great motivation. I expect Germany to take me around two weeks to cover as I'm covering it from North to South which is going to around 1000 miles in total. Then I'll head to Austria and then Italy. Just take it as it comes. Entering the euozone has also meant a serious reduction in prices. I found it impossible to keep to my tenner a day target in Scandinavia but in Germany 6 pound a day has proven to be the norm. This also means I may be able to up the number of days I use campsites which is useful for keeping both myself and my equipment in good condition. More importantly I can now afford the odd beer. Tomorrow is my intended rest day so I'll head south from Hamburg today and then find a camp site tomorrow and spend a day resting and do some equipment maintenance. Catch you all later, Love Craig.

Margaret from the Echo sent me this link yesterday and it's the newspaper article from my first email. Think it even has a quote from Pob in it. Great news as it keeps awareness up and will hopefully keep the fund raising going. www.brighousetoday.co.uk

Yo dudes, Greetings from Gothenberg!!! Mmmmmmm well the more geographically aware people will have noticed I'm a bit further than anticipated. Since I last emailed from Larvik I've averaged around the 70 mile mark per day. Number of reasons for this. For one Sweden is thankfully been a bit flatter than Norway. For two I've had a tail wind since the Swedish border and so I decided to make some hay. My rest day was supposed to be yesterday but I decided to take my rest day when I hit Gothenberg as aside from being a bit more interesting than nowhere, nowheresville, it'd allow me to do a bit of Craig admin. I've booked into a camping site just outside the city and now I'm treating myself a bit. I've cycled almost 500 miles since last Friday and tbh when your time is divided between cycling, camping and eating you don't get much of a chance to meet people and so a day in the city was called for. My current rate of progress does give me a couple of problems. At my current rate I'll hit Australia far too early so I've changed plans slightly. I'm going to head for India after Europe because this will put a few months between me and Oz. My plan is to get out of Europe as fast as possible. Mainly because it's just too expensive. Any notion of some time off the bike just isn't viable at the moment whereas a week off in Asia isn't going to break the bank as much. I've also changed my mind about getting a ferry to Denmark once again for cost reasons. Instead I'm going to cycle from here to Malmo and then cross over to Denmark for free. Hopefully that'll be perfect timing to meet up with Jorg. Since Larvik it's been mainly tough cycling and tough camping. When I started off I said I'd treat this as a 9-5 job which has proven to be a bit naive as it implied cycling followed by watching Eastenders. It's really nothing like that. The main problem is that in reality I'm not a tourist and I don't have tourist money. My day is more like start cycling at 9 and finish at 9 with a couple of breaks thrown in to get food and eat and then I start looking for somewhere to sleep. I'd say the wild camping aspect of it has been the toughest for me. My fitness of probably at a stage now where I can cycle all day without too much discomfort. The tough bit is really not knowing where I'm going to sleep that night. I start looking for places around 9 at night as this minimises the time I'm visible before darkness. Obviously by the same token I have to make sure I buy my food at the right time as if I buy the night's food too early then I have to carry it till I make camp. Too late and I may have missed the last shop. I've also taken to carrying a 5 litre bottle of water which apart from making to bike even heavier gives me a lot more leeway for any mistakes. It's all a learning curve and a very satisfying one at that. I can feel things just clicking into place as I rise to the challenge. When I started I was following the North Sea cycle route. I abandoned this idea somewhere after the border. Mainly because in essense it's a tourist route designed to take you to places where the price of an ice cream makes you wonder if they misunderstood my question as "can I buy your entire town please". The other reason is that when I arrived in Sweden I just couldn't find a map. I asked at a petrol station and he suggested I try Stromstad. I had to point out that I needed a map to get to Stromstad. I eventually got one but only after accidently wandering onto the E6 which is the same as our M1. It's not as bad as it sounds because the drivers here in the main are fantastic. The give you plenty of room and are very courteous. It was here I found a map. This is probably better as following a preplanned tourist route isn't viable in the long term so I may as well start now. As for people I've met I was pretty lucky to have met a German guy called Chris who as luck would have it lives on the Danube cycle route which is on my route. He was on his way to Bergen with his gf and I suggested that rather than double back to Oslo maybe he could circle round to England. He'd been an exchange student and said that the family he'd stayed with weren't very clean and we had a laugh at national stereotypes. I was going to suggest that maybe it's because he bombed their chippy but then I remembered the Fawlty Towers sketch and kept that one to myself. We've exchanged numbers and I've got a place to stay and some cold beers when I reach Tootling. I have no idea if that's how you spell it but I prefer there's something quaint about my spelling so I'm sticking with it. Apart from that it's just been the usual encounters where people ask me where I'm going, I tell them and they tell me I'm mad. There something satisfying about the Scandanavians telling you you're mad. Now I just need the Italians to tell me I'm a passionate hopeless romantic and my life is complete. Tonight I'm going to wander the streets of Gothenberg and just enjoy being amongst people before I head off around 11ish tomorrow. Buy an English newspaper and watch the world go by. I'm forcing myself to have 24hrs off the bike as the legs have taken a bit of a hammering since Kristiansand. I feel strong but I don't want to push it. This is pretty much my second week at this and yes it is tougher than I imagined. Yes I've had to come up with little aims and goals to keep myself going. Yes I've started talking to myself but it's good intelligent conversation. It is enjoyable though and it is rewarding as I improve both physically and mentally. As an side I think I've found a cure for life going by too fast. I know to you guys it feels like I sent an email a few days ago but to my it feels like a lifetime. At this rate I'll have lived 100 lifetimes in the next 18 months. Anyways I best go as a street side cafe and a newspaper has my name on it somewhere.

Hey everyone, Greetings from Larvik!!! Home of Ralph This may be a short email for two reasons, I only have half an hour and Nowegian keyboards are different to English ones and it's doing my head in. Well Norway is an interesting place. Not sure if any of you remember the Monty python sketch where he has a choice over how he's killed and chooses a load of bare-breasted stunners on rollerskates? Well Norway is a bit like that except they're all on bikes. Serously the women are lovely and they all cycle. I mean what is that all about? One came over to me and mentioned how big my bags were and it took all my willpower to avoid the obvious jokes. Another thing about Norway is that its hilly. Most days have been like going up and down Millrow for the entire day. The lakes and fjords are just stunning but it also means that everytime I reach an area of unsurpassed beauty, I have some serious climbing coming my way. I've even done some offroading. I had a section just after Grimstad which the guide listed as undulating. I should have learnt by now that undulating is a euphensim for Mt Everest. On top of that it was gravel. Not sure how many of you have tried to get a 50kg bike up the side of a gravel mountain but it isn't easy. For one you have no grip. For two once you lose grip the bike is too heavy to push. I had about 5 sections where I had to unload the bike, take the bags to the top and then go back down for the bike. Hours of fun. My love affair with Norway and the beautiful people almost ended right there. Luckily I met a nice Norwegian bloke called Ralph (so wanted so shout Wizaaaarrdddd at him). We had a laugh about the undulating mountains of gravel and then I forgot about them and remembered how much was enjoying Noway. He even tried to pay for my coke and after discussing politics, religion and the meaning of life I agreed to send him a postcard from a place I thought may be of interest to him. I also told him about the Rooster and he's planning on coming over for a visit sometime and I'll show it to him in person. The Nowegians seem pretty philosophical as a whole. I asked a guy for directions and he asked where I was going. I told him and he said "yes sometimes you feel like the house and the car own you". I agreed because it sounded so cool. Norway has been a place of many firsts for me. I've answered the eternal question of whether a Craig does expletive deleted in the woods and in the process discovered a cure for Dan's analness. I've wild camped for the first time and enjoyed waking up by the side of a beautiful lake at 6am. I've also had some downs. Obviously there's times when you feel alone. Ironically it's usually when you're amongst people. You do feel a bit of an outsider as you're the only one sitting on the park bench firing up your stove for a pot noodle. In fact I think the food side of things has been the toughest. They just don't make food in handy little eating on the park bench sized packs. Any tips for people touring Norway is to make sure you get enough food to get you through the weekend as it's stupidly expensive from petrol stations. On the cycling front I seem to have settled at a distance of around 60 miles a day. I expect to increase that once the terrain flattens out a bit. Today I'm taking it a bit easy as when I woke up in my forest hideout, it was belting it down so I slept in a bit and then went the supermarket for my park bench breakfast. Plus I wanted to write this email. On the whole I'm enjoying myself. It's tough with the wild camping, the food side of thing and the endless hills but at the same time I'm learning an awful lot about myself. Norwegian people aren't the friendliest on the planet but the ones I've spoken to have been interesting and good company. I expect to be in Sweden in maybe three days time. The terrain seems to be calming down and the weather cooling so I'll try and get 40 miles in today and that should put me in a position to make the Swedish border by Wednesday evening. Anyways best go as the bibioteke internet police are looking at me like a man who hasn't showered for 4 days, cycled 200 miles and yet still has the cheek to know how to use a computer and type with such authoritive speed.

Hmmmmm....... interesting few days. Well the goodbyes were pretty tough and emotional. tbh the first 30 miles or so were a combination of intense sadness at saying goodbye to pretty much everything I love and care about and intense happiness at saying hello to the rest of everything I love and care about. None of this was probably helped by the banging hangover I had. On the way out I cycled past a bunch of guys from Halifax Imps who shouted out "Hope you enjoy your holiday Craig". It felt nothing like a holiday and tbh it felt like cycling in 30C heat with zero energy and a lot of confused emotions. I stopped off in Skipton for 25 glasses of coke and a bite to eat. This seemed to improve matters no end. Got back on the road again and headed for Leaburn in North Yorkshire. Arrived there around 20:00 pretty tired and looking forward to a good meal. Found a nice campsite which was convieniently located on the top of Mt Everest. Just what I wanted after 60 miles on the world's heaviest bike. Treated myself to a pub meal and then hit the sleeping bag with a passion. Next morning had a breakfest of grapes and milk and started to notice the universal truth that a mad bloke on a bike weighing 50kgs plus attracts conversation. People just wander over and ask me wtf I'm playing. To coin Pob's phrase "what are you doing you idiot". It's good though as it's a chance to tell people why I'm doing this and raise awareness for Macmillan. As I'm to find out later this can have some great results. Plotted a course for a place called Beamish which is about 15 miles outside Newcastle. I really wanted to break the back of it over the first two days so I was as close to the Ferry as possibe. It was another baking day and the hills were killers. At one point I was going up a hill at a whole 4 miles an hour. I had these humilation visions of people walking past me so I pushed on for 5 miles an hour. Ever competitive. I stopped off in lunch in Bishop Auckland. One of my motivations for doing this journey was just the chance to meet new people and maybe learn some new languages. Didn't realise it's happen as early as the second day though. I asked the Geordie bird what sandwiches she had and even after repeated herself 4 times I didn't have a clue. I took a guess and said ham and cheese but it turned out to be the only place in the world that doesn't do ham or cheese sandwiches. Eventually we negotioted a couple of sausage sandwiches and 32 glasses of coke. Set off again and I'm sure someone had turned the heat up. On top of this my arse was starting to get sore so the next 35 miles to Beamish were pretty tough again. There really is a world of difference between cycling my 7 kg Cannondale up hills and dragging the beast over hills. I know things will improve as my fitness and strength improves but that didn't make it any easier. I just plodded on, each hill on the horizon almost bringing me to tears. I arrived in Beamish about 19:00. Another 60 miles out the way. Luckily the campsite was at the bottom of Mt Everest but even that of satisfaction was wiped out because it meant I'd have to climb it first thing in the morning. I've learnt the universal truth that campsites are either in valleys or on hills. I set up camp only to find out the guy at reception had put me on someone elses plot. Ended up in a bit of an argument with a drunk Geordie but after he found out what I was doing he become my best mate and kept coming over and asking me questions about my trip. I've learnt another universal truth that Geordies are the nicest people in the world sober but the worst when drunk. It all ended well and as per usual I gave out the justgiving website. It's worth a shot. Cooked my first meal on the stove and had a few cups of tea. It felt great tbh and It's amazing how the human bodt can forget pain. A few hours befoer I'd been grovelling up a hill begging God for mercy and now I was feeling thankful for a cup of tea and some good company. The hills forgotten. Set off next morning for the ferry about 11ish as it was about a 20 miles ride. Crawled back up the hill but as it was first thing, it didn't feel too bad. Lots of well wishes from people as I was cycling through Newcastle. Sober you see. "Where you gannin pet?", "Gaanin Roond the World Like was my reply. I think most said "Champion" and then took their shirts off or some other cliche. Got to the Ferry and asked for the queue for the ferry to Norway. Women looked at me blank. Figure this isn't good as a big ferry is the type of thing I expect she'd know about. Turns out travel agency have screwed up my tickets and I'd missed my ferry by a day, champion. Lots of phone calls later and the travel agency admit thir mistake and set about sorting it out. Lots of options investigated and eventually they get me a ferry for the Thursday. In their defense it was a mistake and they sorted it out to the best of their ability. The girl who took the booking also too my website address so hopefully more donations will be fortcoming. People make mistakes and as long as they sort them out I'm not bothered. Plus they put me up in a hotel for 2 days which gave me a chance to sort my bum out and buy various things I'd realised I needed along the way. Oh and I got to see Superman Returns. I also bought a new simcard so I can make and recieve calls internationally. I'll email the new number once I remember it. Well my ferry is today so it's bye to merry England and hello to Norway. Hopefully this email isn't too long but tbh it's also my record of where and what I've done.