Barletta to Foggia

Left Barletta at 8.30 am. They were warned that this stretch was very unpopulated and there would be no villages or places to eat for lunch, so they bought bread and ham for a picnic. They cycled through a landscape of vineyards and olive groves, the weather not too hot.

They stopped for their picnic in the gateway of a house beside the road, and as they sat there a man came out, offering something to eat. He was followed by a son with some cake, then granny with some coffee. She poured out her heart about having lost her husband some weeks before, receiving a warm hug from Gerard. Eventually another son and the daughter in law joined the throng at the gate and Edith and G set off with a chorus of fond farewells.

Later on they came across an Afghan man c 30yrs old, well educated and with good English, who it turned out had been an interpreter for the Canadians in Afghanistan, and was now seeking Asylum in Italy. They had an interesting chat about the situation out there.

They arrived in Foggia at around 3.30 just as the weather broke into torrential rain. They are in high spirits and debating whether to have a rest day tomorrow or to press on for the finishing line….they fly back to the UK on Tuesday having packed up the bike.

Bari to Barletta

Six hours Bari to Barletta a total of 55 kilometres. Gently undulating ground by the sea. Pleasant temperature and nice weather. They are pleased to be in better conditions of weather and traffic, although it took them an hour to drive out of Bari. Barletta is a pleasant city with a good museum of contemporary artists.

They both were on relaxed form, although tired from their exertions. The end finally beckon!

Corinth-Patras

The heat is still intense in the northern Peloponnese. On the first leg from Corith to Diajofco it was stifling. Today on the Diacofco to Patras run it has rained heavily all day which made bicycling more bearable. At least unlike last year it was warm (and raining) rather than cold (and raining)!

They are having dinner in a pleasant taverna on the shores of the Ionian Sea. Tomorrow they embark for Bari in Souther Italy and the last phaase of their Odyssey

Athens-Corinth

Arrived in Piraeus after a pleasant ferry from Cyprus. Bicycled from Piraeus up to the centre of Athens. Greeks mad drivers! Survived the Athenian traffic. I wonder if Pericles ever had the same problem 3,000 years ago? Probably.

After a bit of sightseeing they took off for the first leg of three days across central Greece to Patras. The road out of Athens was pretty dangerous and they started their ride on the outskirts of Greater Athens to Corinth. Across the isthmus to the city at the top of the Peloponnese. It is very hot there at the moment - up in the 30s centigrade. Lots of water taken.

Cyprus

Gerard and Edith sailed on the Haifa-Limassol ferry and arrived in the balmy delights of this Greek island which is really more Middle Eastern than Mediterranean.

Your correspondent was by a stroke of luck on holiday on Cyprus with some friends who live there and managed to catch up with the two athletes. A long and pleasant lunch at the luxurious buffet at their beach hotel extracted all the details of their Palestinian sojourn. They kept in trim by riding their tandem in Cyprus which has got great bicycle lanes and unlike Israel is bicycle friendly.

A couple of days later they took the Limassol-Piraeus ferry which will take them two days.

Israel/Palestine Leg

Apologies for the long break posting anything but your correspondent has been on holiday in Cyprus - more of which anon.

The intrepid duo found the roads and traffic in Israel a nightmare. Only dual carriageways and motorways between cities. they bicycled where they could but got lifts in the more difficult and dangerous pieces. The locals all thought they were mad attempting any bicycling!!

They had a good period of acclimatisation in Jerusalem. It was hot - up in the 30s centigrade. Stayed at the Kind David Hotel and visited all the sights. On arrival in Haifa they discovered they were staying in a hotel at the top of Mount Carmel. This is a steep and high mountain which took them quite a while to scale.

Landed in Jerusalem

Gerard and Edith arrived in Jerusalem on Monday 1st June. They had a problem at Heathrow as they had to unpack their bicycle which had been carefully wrapped up for the journey as it would not go through the security scanner - a real bore!

They arrived in their hotel and found it ghastly! They luckily found a room opposite in the lovely old King David Hotel next to the Old City. They are now acclimatising ready for the journey which they start in one week's time. The temperature is very hot - 32-33 centigrade.

It is many years since they visited Jerusalem. They have found it has grown enormously with all the building work done in the last 20 years.

BACK ON THE ROAD!!!!

Following Edith's bronchitis last September which forced the intrepid duo to give up two thirds down the leg of Italy at Pescara, they are off to finish the route. However they are starting in Jerusalem. Then down the mountains to Haifa by ferry to Cyprus and Athens. From Athens along the northern Peloponnese to Patras. Ferry from Patras to Brindisi and then back up Italy to Pescara. They aim to do this in one month.

Pray for them and wish them the best luck!!!

SUSPENSION

Suspension!!!!

Struck down by illness.

Edith had got a severe cold whilst in Pescara waiting for the weather to clear. She went to a local doctor to get some relief for it and reacted violently to the prescription. She ended up in accident and emergency with severe difficulties breathing. She was like a hedgehog with a variety of needles being stuck into her. More frightening for her was a slowdown in cardiac activity. It was apparently touch and go. Gerard has been shaken by the experience.

Luckily she has now recovered from the crisis and is being flown back to England to recover properly.

I spoke to them both yesterday evening and they are determined to return to Pescara and complete the journey in the spring.

Let us wish them well and many congratulations on their effort, so far it has been magnificent!

Rest Days 2

Rest Days 2

Gerard and Edith are still stuck in Pescara. Still raining and cold. The locals say this has been an unprecedented spell of weather. Edith is suffering from a cold as well but improving.

They took a couple of day out to travel by coach across the Apennines (the central mountain range that goes down the leg of Italy to Rome. It’s only two and a half hours which shows you how narrow Italy is at that point. Rome in contrast to the east coast of the Italian Peninsula was warm and sunny....heyho!

They are now aiming to re-start Monday. Now a week behind. It’s a miracle really that they had not been delayed more considering the poor weather generally. The worst of it in the last week has been hearing how pleasant the weather has been in England!

REST DAYS

Rest Break

Due to the appalling weather and their injuries, Gerard an Edith have decided to take 3-4 days off and return to Pescara to continue the odyssey at the end of the week. The forecast is still dire for the next few days so it is prudent and sensible just to mark time. Both Peter and I fully encouraged this decision. This is not a sprint but a marathon and they must pace themselves.

Days 35 & 36 September 19th and 20th

Ancona-Ascoli-Pescara 100 miles

Two days of misery and cold and rain.....After their slog up the mountain to their hotel outside Ancona, Gerard and Edith got a lift down the steep mountains back onto their route along the coast. But it started raining again and has stayed like this for the two days via Ascoli to Pescara. It was around 12 Celsius all the way and heavy rain – look at the weather forecast for Bari in Italy on the BBC website and you will see how bad it is!!! Mean days of rainfall for September in this area is just over three days. They have had much more than that! The whole coast has emptied of tourists. This normally bustling coastline is funereal. At least the hotels seem pleased to see them.

Ascoli is like Miami on a bad day full of large hotels along the seafront, which are now empty. However, they did find a nice restaurant and a steak served by a charming Argentine – the steak probably came from there as well.

Saturday was Gerard’s birthday. It poured with rain again. The road was often flooded as the drainage system could not cope with the downpour. The sea was furious with white caps on all the waves. When they got to Pescara they went shopping for warm clothes as they had only bought ‘Mediterranean’ kit. So two pullovers and warm flannel pyjamas were purchased (there is no central heating in the hotels). All the locals were well wrapped up in furs and fleeces.

Always a silver lining, as Gerard and Edith celebrated his birthday with a Chinese dinner – oh the consolation of a good meal!!

Gerard thanks all those who called him to wish him a happy birthday.