Berlin to London by recumbent tricycle

[Auntie Helen]

As many of you will have noticed, I like cycling in Germany. This is mainly because of the refuelling options with cake. I also love Berlin and spent two weeks recumberating around there last September, during which was hatched a plan to cycle home to Colchester from Berlin in May.

This plan has rather evolved now as I decided to do it for charity (Help for Heroes, who have opened a new rehabilitation centre in Colchester this week) and, as Berlin to Great Bromley doesn't sound very exciting, I decided to do Berlin to London instead.

I am leaving two weeks today (27 April) and expect to get back mid-May.

What I would absolutely love is if anyone is free on my last day (estimated to be around 10-14 May) if they would like to cycle from Colchester to London with me. I am likely to be calling in at the Colchester Personnel Recovery Centre on my way past for some photographs (the MoD say they will allow me access for this) and then will follow the Speedy fnrttc Harwich route back to London, heading to Trafalgar Square at the end.

So, if anyone would like to ride with me on this as-yet-unspecified date, I hope you can make it!

Likewise if anyone would like to escort me to Harwich on 27 April (that's two Friday's time) in the evening, I shall be leaving the general Manningtree area at 8pm. It's a nice 15 mile ride along the coast of the Stour river.

I will be writing regular blog posts about my progress which can be found on auntiehelen.wordpress.com

I'm fundraising for H4H, of course, and several forum chaps have already kindly donated (this has been on my Facebook Page for a couple of months). I'm almost halfway to my target of £2,000 so am very pleased with progress.

Anyway, here's the main blurb about my trip:


In April/May 2012 I will be cycling from Berlin to London alone and unsupported on my recumbent trike to raise money for Help For Heroes.

The Route

You can zoom in more closely here: http://www.gpsies.com/mapOnly.do?fileId=fqfleaplfknsgivl

The German portion is part of the European Cycle Route R1 which stretches from St Petersburg in Russia to Calais in France. The Dutch portion is mostly R1 (although it is renamed LF4 with a short piece of LF40 as well). The English portion is an optimised route from Harwich to London which is a bit more scenic than the most direct route.

For the German section I have the excellent Esterbauer-Verlag Bikeline book (Europa Radweg R1) which gives route information as well as hotels and B&Bs. The Holland section is, at the moment, a bit of a mystery to me – but I shall do my best to research some B&Bs before I set off.

This may be one long cycle route but it wends its way through lots of interesting towns and villages, most of which I have not previously visited.

Leaving the Brandenburger Tor in the centre of Berlin (right next to the Reichstag, the German parliament building) I will head southwest towards Potsdam. From there I pass through Lutherstadt Wittenberg and Dessau, continuing along past smaller towns and skirting north of the Harz mountains, passing north of Paderborn and then going around Gütersloh heading towards Münster. From Münster I will head west towards the border with Holland just south of Entschede, then cycle through Arnhem, turning a little more northwards to Utrecht, from where I head due west to Den Haag (the Hague) and the North Sea! I follow the North Sea cycle path southwest to the Hoek van Holland (Hook of Holland) where I will catch a ferry across to Harwich.

From Harwich I will be cycling southwest towards London via Colchester (where I live), Tiptree, Maldon, Brentwood, Romford, Ilford and finally arriving in central London at Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square.

I plan to cycle about 100km (60 miles) per day as I trundle my way across Germany and Holland. I expect to take two weeks or a little more to cover the 1,239 kilometres (770 miles). This will be 511 miles in Germany, 177 miles in Holland and 82 miles in Great Britain.

I will be providing a track of my journey as I cycle with regular updates as to where I am (details nearer the time).
The journey to Berlin:

I will be leaving home on Friday 27 April to cycle to Harwich and then take the ferry to Holland, travelling by train through Holland to the border with Germany (Venlo). From Venlo I will cycle to Düsseldorf (about 40 miles) and stay there overnight. The next day I will take the train from Düsseldorf to Berlin, stay overnight in Berlin and then start my return journey by pedal power.
Fundraising support

I am doing this ride to support Help For Heroes, a UK Charity which raises money to support members of the Armed Forces who have been wounded in the service of their country.

As I live near the Garrison town of Colchester I am raising money specifically for a new facility which is due to open in Colchester this Spring. The Colchester Personnel Recovery Centre is a new build centre within the garrison at Colchester, built by Help for Heroes (H4H) for the MoD. The Centre includes new accommodation facilities, a social area, family rooms and a fitness centre. It will provide residential accommodation for 29 soldiers and 31 day attendees. The operating costs of the centre will be funded by H4H with support from The Royal British Legion.

I’m hoping to perhaps collect a few donations in a collecting tin as I make my way through Germany and Holland and the UK but the best and most tax-efficient way to support my ride and this Personnel Recovery Centre is through a donation through my H4H online fundraising page at http://www.bmycharity.com/BerlinToLondon

Thanks so much for supporting me!

The recumbent tricycle

I will be using my ICE Sprint recumbent tricycle with an Alfine 11 hub gear and a triple derailleur at the front. This trike, known as Alfie, was bought in July 2011 and has already visited Berlin once for a ten day cycling holiday.

For more information on ICE trikes visit their website at www.icetrikes.co

Thanks to:

Olaf Storbeck and Katharina Slodczyk for help with the German translation of my flyer I shall hand out whilst I am underway
Marianne West, Help For Heroes Essex Co-ordinator, for talking to me about other ways to raise funds


And the flyer I have had printed that I will give out whilst I am underway:

 

[Auntie Helen]

Can I persuade any of you to ride the last day back to London with me?

 

[ianrauk]

Can I persuade any of you to ride the last day back to London with me?

of course you can.

 

[saoirse50]

I'd love to join you AH, if I'm free whatever that day may be. As soon as you know the date, post it up and I'll be there if I can.

 

[Blue Hills]

If I'm around I'll try to come - can maybe offer a second opinion on your bike

all the best

 

[Auntie Helen]

I should have a reasonable clue of what date it'll be about four days out so hopefully that gives people some time.

I'd like to be riding the last bit on Saturday 11 or Sunday 12 May if possible (as I know that means more people might be able to come, or at least to meet me at Trafalgar Square) but if there's a strong easterly then I might be a day or two beyond that.

Blue Hills, you are welcome to come and offer a second opinion on my bike - I shall just fire you in a bouncing bomb at Reculver or something...

 

[ianrauk]

Do you mean Sunday 13th May?.. (of which I will be at football on that date)

 

[martint235]

of course you can.

Ditto. Will try to meet you at Harwich.

And good luck!!!

 

[saoirse50]

Isn't Saturday the 12th of May? I should be free on the Sunday. The Saturday is taken up at the moment. But I will keep Sunday free just in case.

 

[Auntie Helen]

Haven't got my diary handy but I definitely mean the Saturday or Sunday around there. I think my German Oral exam for my finals is on the Friday and I've told them I'm definitely missing that (this Berlin to London trip was booked months before they announced the exam dates!); I thought that was Fri 10th but perhaps it's Thu 9th. Anyway, I'm aiming for the Sat or Sun if at all possible but we shall see [just looked it up, it's Wed 9th]. And I do mean Saturday 12 or Sunday 13 May as my Col-London day.

Martin, I'm probably not riding back from Harwich to London on the last day (despite what I may have written above). This is because it's 85 miles which, at my pace, is a fairly long day and gets me into London a bit late. Current thinking is to get the day ferry back, to cycle home from Harwich (between Manningtree and Colchester), spend the night at home and then head off in the morning to Colchester, collecting any cycling chums on the way (from the Station) and probably also dropping in to the Personnel Recovery Centre in Colchester on the way for some photos. This is within the MoD security area so will only be me, if it happens, but will be a fairly short stop just for pix.

So my final day's ride is very probably Colchester to London which is 60ish miles so better for me for a day to give me time to reach the end in daylight!

Of course if I find myself 10 miles from the Hook of Holland at 6pm I may just continue on and jump on a ferry. We shall see!

 

[martint235]

That's ok. I'm happy with either, just keep us up to date on how it's going (obviously I will need time to get from London to the meet point )

 

[Auntie Helen]

Well I expect I'd want to be in Colchester by at least 10am, if not earlier (I'll still be on foreign time so it will seem quite late to me), so that's a fairly early train to Col or a VERY early ride to Col... It's the Speedy fnrttc in reverse so you could always go in reverse and try to meet me along it!

 

[martint235]

Well I expect I'd want to be in Colchester by at least 10am, if not earlier (I'll still be on foreign time so it will seem quite late to me), so that's a fairly early train to Col or a VERY early ride to Col... It's the Speedy fnrttc in reverse so you could always go in reverse and try to meet me along it!

About a 5-6am start I think. I've got it as 57 miles from my house to Colchester station by a reasonably direct route.

 

[martint235]

Bump!!!

So I think it's time we got a list together. Who's up for riding out to meet Helen at Colchester? Happy to run a ride from HPC if there's enough people otherwise it'll be Dartford Crossing to Colchester.

 

[ianrauk]

I'm out if it's next weekend as I will be at the last footy game of the seaseon.