Cycle to Sahara was an ambitious plan, pulled out of nowhere, in my student flat in Glasgow, sometime in a very snowy January. Chris, Donnie and myself were keen to get a cycling expedition planned for the summer of 2011 after the many drunk conversations that took place on that year's uni ski trip we had just all come back from. I had mentioned to the boys I had cycled to Bavaria the summer before with friends and was insane enough to want to do it all again - but further. The boys were on board straight away. Chris came over for dinner (bringing questionable brownies for desert) and we ran through destination ideas. It had to be somewhere we could do in a couple of months so we could get back for uni and also not cost us a fortune. Donnie joined us and as we stared at my world map, he blurted out 'Cycle to Sahara, that sounds good, yeh?'. And so we had a destination.
Donnie is graduating this year with a 1st in Pharmacology (smart arse yes) and not much of an idea yet of what to do next. Chris, like me wants an adventure before graduating in 2012. Chris studies Pyscology and myself Environmental Chemistry. We are an odd bunch, met through a love of sport and adventure- not actually cycling though. Chris is a boxer, I dabble in horse riding and skiing and Donnie's played rugby at uni as well as snowboards.
After Chris' 21st in Febuary we met Matty Owen - a geordie friend of Chris' who wanted to join us. He's an equally top lad whos doing Physio at St George's in London. Now we had a destination and a team.
Turns out this sort of thing is not easy to plan. Time has decreased quickly to only 13 days before we depart and we havent got everything in place yet. We hoped to find sponsorship for the cycle but this never materialised. Last minute kit is gathering however, with help from friends and family and the fundraising we have done. We were lucky to receive the Chancellor's Fund from Glasgow Univerisity's Sports Association. Without it the trip would cost us students a lot of money! Thank you GUSA.
The basic plan is to cycle from Glasgow, leaving on the 30th of June, through England, France, Spain and Morocco to finish before the 1st of September in Merzouga, south east Morocco - the start of the Sahara.
We are camping in the great outdoors along the way and carrying our lives on the back of our bikes. The cycle is in aid of Right to Play -
http://www.righttoplay.co.uk/.
More details will be coming as the count down to departure starts. Hopefully we will be able to blog while we are away too.
Charlotte x
(For background info on our journey check out
http://www.cycle-to-sahara.co.uk/)
