Les managed to shut up the band for 5 minutes to hand out the awards for the riders and to thank them all for their extraordinary contribution to the Pancreatic Cancer cause. The consensus was that the total mileage from London to Krakow had crept up from Les’ initial estimate of 950 miles to the final total of 1030 miles (some of it self imposed ‘getting lost’ miles)!

On the 8th, the various team members went their own separate ways: Smit and Jordanna had a wedding to go to (Tereska & Ben who were getting married in a Krakow castle); Simon went to the airport to get a plane back to England and his family; Joy and Trace, after dropping Simon off at the airport, spent their 38th wedding anniversary being part of the ‘cafe society’ around the centre of a resplendent Krakow; and Les, together with Sue, Rosa and Immi went for a visit to the former concentrations camps of Auschwitz / Birkenau.

On Saturday, Trace & Joy (in their car) and Les, Rosa and Immi (in the van) set off for England, whilst Jordanna & Smit spent the day recovering after the wedding before setting off on the Sunday for the 7 hour train journey to Budapest where they will be spending an extra week.

You can see photos of the finish by following the link to the PCUK web-site under “useful links” to the right. You can also hear one of the Polish interviews given by Les Niewiara by following the link listed under “In the press” to the right.

Cycling wise, this was to be an ‘easy’ day with just the 100km to be covered, and having been met by our driver for the day Stasiek (again supplied by KONE Poland) away we went. It was great that the wind once again was in our favour, and we made good time, finally arriving on the outskirts of the town of Bytom where we had lunch, before being met by the Mayor of Bedzin’s police escort who then proceeded to lead us (lights flashing) the remaining 15km to the meet point. There we were greeted by an army of photographers and film crews who were there to watch us arrive, meet the mayor, sign the town flag, before finally setting off on the final kilometre with the mayor and about 20 other cyclists for the town palace which is now used as a museum. Once there we we greeted with a trumpet fanfare (Bedzin town anthem celebrating its 650th nniversary as a town) as well as all of the aforementioned press and media.

The team were greeted by the town dignitaries as well as by more of Les’ cousins before being whisked away to a press conference which had been set up in the foyer of the museum. Words of welcome (as well as gifts) from the mayor were followed by a short speech by Les (in Polish) as well as by all the other members of the team. Questions followed, before the majority of the team went to have interviews or photographs taken with the assembled crowd. The proceedings finally finished 2 hours later and the team arrived at their hotel (courtesy of the town of Bedzin) at 4pm, and the comfort of a cold beer.

In the evening the team enjoyed the hospitality of Les’ cousin Zosia who laid on some great food (the beetroot soup was a particular favourite) and some great company. Unfortunately by 10pm, the team were exhausted and retired back to their beds for an early night, but not before seeing the report of TVP Katowice television.

It has been a surreal day, and oh yes, the mileage was a ’short’ 60 miles.

 You can see photos of them cycling with the mayor and the  reception in Bedzin under the “In the press links” to the right 

Les’ Polish being useful, especially as tonight we are going to Les’ cousin Eva’s for dinner. Lots of translating necessary probably!

Thunderstorms (again!) - hail, cold, Les wore 4 layers of clothing, then Jordanna had a second puncture. Fortunately the tailwind (for a change) meant that not too much time was lost…until Jordanna got her third puncture! Eventually arrived at Lubin after 6km of cobbled roads and our first night in a hotel. Les’ cousin Andrzej met us there, we were all tired after our third 100 mile day. Lovely meal in a hotel and can’t wait for the fourth 100 mile day tomorrow!

Scrumptious 4 course meal courteous of our in-camp chef Simon: melon, tortellini, vegetable curry and fruit salad -THANKYOU Simon!

So over the border tomorrow

 ”Dzien dobry Polska” or  ”Czesc Polska” for the more ‘informal linguists’ amongst you

Now, about the day: we woke up in rain, pouring down in fact, packed up quickly and left at 8:15am without breakfast which we finally ate after our first 40km. The next 40km was wet, we all got soaked and stopped for lunch in a bus shelter; the good thing was that we only had another 50km to go so we just got back on the bikes and did it arriving at the campsite at 5:30pm - earlier than usual!

Some people’s energy knows no bounds - Smit and Jordanna were sprinting aganist each other all day, Peter (Swedish) too. Smit won the sprints GB 2 - Sweden 0! Trace has had a fantastic week cycling and has done every mile so far - a true inspiration. Simon  (Steady Eddie) has continually been available to help and encourage the team, put tents up etc. Joy has also done a fantastic job buying and preparing meals and encouraging everyone; Sandra has been doing a fabulous job driving.

We’re right on the Polish border tonight and we have a rest day tomorrow when we leave Germany - A huge THANKYOU to Peter (who has cycled 680 km across Germany) and to Sandra who has driven us across Germany).

The good thing is we haven’t got lost for two days so some things are improving - the weather not being one of them!

So, into Poland on Monday!

It was a lovely day, not too hot (although there was a headwind the first couple of hours) and the contrast of East to West Germany is apparent - here we are going for miles and miles past fields seeing nobody; the Eastern part of Germany seems empty.

We stopped this afternoon outside a house, and the lady living there came out and gave us all freshly picked tomatoes from her garden, then asked if we had music in the van. On answering ‘Yes’ she then proceeded to dance to the music and ask if we wanted to come to a wedding that evening in the village. Having declined the generous offer we continued on our way and arrived at the campsite at 5:45pm - 73 miles.

Another tooth (Les’ this time) got broken on the way (as Les is a vegetarian it can’t be the Wurst sausage again!)

We went to a reception in the evening organised by a Kone supplier, Jordhal, a metal fabricator. They laid on food and drink and made a video of the team; also a local Trebbin newspaper journalist came along and interviewed Les and the team. We had a tour of the factory and then returned to thunder and lightening over the campsite, so straight to bed to prepare for the last stage in Germany (and Peter’s last stage) before a rest day on Sunday, and then into Poland on Monday.

Stopping for lunch, several people stopped and asked about the bike ride (maybe they’ve seen the team on TV already!).

Luckily the bike tools include tweezers as they were required for Simon and Peter (Broberg, he is the sixth team member for the Germany stages) to extract a tic from the back of Les’ leg.

Les cycled 65 miles and decided that he would slow up the team if he carried on as the heat, wind and hills were slowing him up. The team battled on for the last 35 miles only arriving at the campsite in Magdeburg at 8:30pm. Apparently the German campsites are excellent but we’re not really seeing much of them! 

A shorter day (about 100km) tomorrow thankfully (although we’ve said that before!).

At the first stop Simon was eating a Wurst sandwich (or worst? (sorry!)) and broke his tooth on it! Must have been a solid German pig!

Lunch at the Kone Hanover office where, funnily enough eating a sandwich, Smit broke his front tooth (apparently false anyway!). Jordanna glued the tooth back together with superglue! Unfortunately this couldn’t be done with Simon’s.

After the Hanover stop Les decided that he felt good enough to do the whole day’s cycling so 20 miles on to Uetze making 73 miles total today. RTL (the biggest commercial TV station in the world) filmed the team on this last part of the route so if you happen to be in Germany tomorrow evening you will see the cyclists on TV and their interview. The local Uetze newspaper also interviewed Les, so Les is having his 15 minutes of fame (in Uetze - does that count?).

On we go tomorrow, hoping it is as flat as today!