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Arctic-To-The-Med 5000

On 1/6/17 from Europe's most northern point, I will cycle 5000 miles south to the Mediterranean sea, solo. Covering 100 miles/day, carrying my life on my bike. I will chronicle the trip here, and ensure my loved ones know I'm ok! I aim to pair this challenge with helping to rebuild the lives of Syrians who have been struck with disaster. Thank you for your support, & thank you to my sponsor Adapt Outdoors, Liverpool Fingers crossed I can pull this off!

Hand in Hand for Syria

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March 27, 2017

My nominated charity

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/arctictothemed4000

Thank you! 💛

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Day 0 and pre-trip reflection

May 30, 2017

A laugh to manoeuvre, & will somehow need to come with me on 2 buses tomorrow...! So as I am sat in Oslo airport, after being treated to a small glimpse of lush greenery & snowcapped mountains on landing, I am struck with a mix of intrigue, excitement and fear. Final preparation The past six weeks have been a flurry of training, and logistical planning (of which there is a lot of!), and finding it very difficult to balance the two. Particularly as long rides take a whole day, and back-to-back rides therefore take many. Fully loaded training, ending at a vegan festival of course (SO much cake). I have been lucky enough to cycle in Italy, whilst on a mother-daughter trip, Snowdonia, down to Canterbury in Kent, and train in Majorca with the great Phoenix cycle club. Publicity wise, to hopefully aid with fundraising, a lovely article was published about the ride, on the CyclingUK website: http://www.cyclinguk.org/news/20170515-alaina-cha...

Day 4 - Alta to Storslett - first 100 miler

June 06, 2017

Getting into el ridmo Day 4: Alta to Storslett - 101mi - 2066m Um, this is quite difficult! The ill-fated end to my day- Kvaenangsfjellet Right, all pumped up & ready for this first 'big' day. I headed out, at what I thought was an early time, meaning even if it took 10mph I'd be home & dry by 6pm - perfect! Turns out 2 days' worth of food & 2L of water makes cycling extra difficult on any incline...pros & cons of survival eh! I stuck on my secret weapon of the day (Taylor Swift - honestly, best cycle albums ever), & headed out along Altafjord. A couple of minor inconveniences arose - a lot of tunnels in Norway are illegal for cyclists, but helpfully most have an alternative cycle route or 'old road' bypassing them. The first one didn't actually rejoin the main E6 road - it was barriered. A little annoying to unpack my heavy beast of a bike to get it over to the road! One alternative was helpfully blocked with no e...

'Easy days', the Troll's path, & the beautiful Geirangerfjord

June 26, 2017

'Easy days', the Troll's path, & Geiranger The UNESCO site Geirangerfjord. Supporting Hand in Hand for Syria - www.alaina.org.uk Ride day 15: 49 miles, 864m ascent Damn you wind - this is my 'easy' day! Atlantic Ocean Road Doing my mega day had afforded me time to split the next hundred miler in half. Knowing I'd be going over the place pictured above, I thought it's not something I want to rush or be feeling horrific for! 30 minutes of sun!? Quick! My gear may go from soaked to damp! :D Feeling leisurely, I took my time with getting ready, & met another lovely German couple touring in their campervan. My route south began with a tunnel illegal for cyclists, & it seemed the ferry I planned to take actually no longer exists! Fortunately buses were running on Sundays, albeit quite infrequently, so I had to wait until 3pm for this. A part of Kristiansund called 'Grip Island'. I'm actually having some chill ...