London to Paris - be warned, this is a very long blog.

Last night I got home from a very busy few days.
Y'see on tuesday last week I left for my boyfriends house in order for us to leave for London the day after in order for us to leave for Paris - it's all so complicated...
This post will let you know what happened during the bike ride (well as much as I can remember or am willing to share.....)

Wednesday
We woke up at 5:30am (torture) in order to get to the train station in time for the last train to London. Because of London being busy and things people are only allowed to bring bikes on trains that arrive before 7:15 so it was a very early start for us. However we got there a bit earlier than expected which was good BUT ALL OF A SUDDEN, I was a fool. The train arrived and we were walking to get to the special bike place and then my helmet fell off of my bike and into the train tracks... This was all before we even left for London and I already messed up the trip in some way! Record methinks... Anyway, long story short, we decided to leave the helmet there (the angry train man seemed to prefer this option) as buying another helmet would've been much cheaper than missing the last train, missing the ferry for that evening and having to re-book the whole journey.

me with a rather fetching helmet mark

When we got to London we filled up with a full English (we discovered after that it probably wasn't the best thing to eat..) and set of as soon as we could - I think we started cycling at about 8:30. The traffic and roads in London were all very confusing and we weren't 100% sure if we were even going the right way... It was boiling hot even at the beginning of the day which didn't feel great and I found that London was more hilly than expected!
It took a couple of hours to get out of London and into the big open countryside.. We mainly used cycle paths for this day which were nice because they were prettier and obviously meant for bikes, however sometimes they were the complete opposite and were either ridiculously hilly or the path was made of mud or sand (which is near impossible to cycle on!)
I don't really remember much of this day as it was pretty horrible... We grabbed a sandwich at a passing M&S and set off again shortly after.. I was pretty low after we hit 40 miles. 40 miles is the time when you start to feel properly tired but when you know you're still nowhere near where you're heading.
We looked at how far we had gone and how far we had left and how much time we had to do it and began to get quite worried... We decided to cycle on a big A road instead of a cycle path and this did save time, however we saw that we weren't allowed through this tunnel. So basically we had to take the long, really hilly way around it. Which was horrible. There was this beastly hill full of bends (I think towards Hindhead) so whenever you thought that the hill was almost over, you went round the bend to find out that there was another bit. And this happened again and again which was really rather soul destroying!
When we finally got out, we hit a junction and had no idea where to go, so Chris called his brother and I passed out.
Anyway after lots more cycling we finally got to the ferry! We arrived bang on 10 which was when they wanted us there to board so that was good. We ate lots and then slept pretty heavily despite the uncomfortable, cold chairs we had.

Thursday
When we got off the ferry we could instantly see that France was prettier. The words 'this is so pretty' were shared a few hundred times in the next few days...
We cycled into Le Havre and had breakfast, stocked up on snacks and water and headed off again!  The first thing we found odd was going the wrong way on the roundabouts, but we got used to them shortly... We got lost really rather quickly, took about 10 wrong turnings and had to turn back again and again until we finally got on the right route, which happened to go through a village (it was very pretty believe it or not!)
This day was much more temperamental regarding the weather - it was either absolutely boiling, or raining. So I jumped from wearing nothing on my top half apart from a sports bra to wearing everything I had and a flowery (and unwaterproof) 'waterproof'. Sexy stuff. We crossed the big bridge which lead us to the rest of France and a really pretty cycle route. We were taken down these small country lanes with really pretty old houses with beautiful gardens scattered everywhere. We even saw a nice lot of cute animals which was nice!
We stopped off in this amazing old town for an indulgent lunch - we were making good time so thought we'd allow ourselves nice a restauranty pizza meal.

Luckily there was a huge downpour of rain while we were in there, so we were very grateful that we missed it! We headed off again with full bellies and got onto a lovely cycle path shortly after. It was so pretty.



The boyfriend looking sexy in his cycling gear...

Basically we followed this path for a long long time until we got to Evreux! The path was about half of the journey on this day which was lovely because it was flat and straight and wildlife everywhere. Many songs were sung along this path.
It took about 20 minutes to find our hotel when we got to Evreux and my oh my, what a treat that hotel was. We arrived at about 8:45 and had nice hot showers and ordered pizza (we were too late to have supper there.... so yet MORE pizza) and brownies and coke and then slept long and hard. It was really nice.

Friday
We woke and got up slowly - it was very hard to leave the hotel! We made our way downstairs and enjoyed a buffet breakfast (very very nice) which turned out to be not as free as we thought... We left even later than the previous two days at I think about 10am.
We were aching lots from the previous two days and even though the thursday was rather laid-back in comparison, we really felt it the morning after! Saying that the first 20 miles of friday was basically all downhill which was great. We passed lots of pretty places and buildings and have complied a shortlist of places where we'd want to live in the future! Here's a few of the nice bits on friday...

The pretty bits carried on but they were soon joined with horrible hills. While leaving the city Plaisir, it was uphill for an almost solid 45 minutes. It's rather knackering going uphill as it is but when you've already done over 200 miles and the hill goes on, it gets really horrible. Half way through the never-ending uphill struggle, the hill decided to suddenly get much steeper for about 10 minutes and we refused to stop until we got to the top. This was without a doubt the hardest I pushed my body in the whole trip and when we got to the top I just had a bit of an emotional breakdown. Me hyperventilating, sweating and crying is a sight my boyfriend will hold onto for ever <3

This photo doesn't do the hill justice at all, but this is the view from where we stopped for a cry. We were thinking of walking down to take a picture which showed the steepest bits of it, but we were too tired even to walk it! You can see Plaisir in the distance though, which is where we started...

We got nearer and nearer to Paris and once we got through Versailles (which was a mission to get to in itself) we could start to see the top of the Eiffel Tower! But. There seemed to only be one way to get to Paris from where we were and this was on a motorway which, obviously, we weren't allowed on. So infuriating! We asked some nice people how to get to Paris via bike and they pointed us the right way and after lots of guessing of what way to turn and when it's safe to travel away from the Eiffel Tower etc, we finally made it!

We arrived just before 11pm and the Eiffel Tower welcomed us with a light show - it was amazing!

Straight after meeting my parents, they took us out for a meal. We then walked to the car to drop off our bikes and pick up some clothes then to their hotel room to get dressed. In the end we got to our own hotel room at about 2am and within about 30 seconds of being in the room, we feel asleep.

The next day we strolled around Paris and enjoyed ourselves which was much deserved! We found a restaurant which served chicken and pasta (two of our cravings) and it was amazing, so we were two very happy people.

It was SO TASTEY!

So there you have it. A very long blog for a very long and tiring few days! Now I am packing my things once again in order to leave for my training on Coll tomorrow! Busy me.

No school = more blogs... apparently...

I know! You've heard from me so often! What's going on?!
However this is probably the last you'll hear from me for at least a good couple of weeks... so we can let that slide.

Yes! Basically, tomorrow I will be leaving for Chris's house (boyfriend who is going to Honduras with PT who I will be doing the bike ride with) and making sure we've got everything ready.... and then after a good night's sleep, we will be off for Londinium!
It doesn't look like I've actually told you properly about the bike ride yet, so here you go.
The first day of cycling, the Wednesday, we will cycling from the London Eye to Portsmouth harbour. The ferry leaves at 11pm so we have the whole day to make it! It should be around 80 miles and if we leave London at 8-9am then we'll get to Portsmouth in comfortable time (that's the plan at least!)
We will then spend an uncomfortable night trying to sleep on the ferry... But once we arrive at Le Havre at 7am, we will be off again for day 2! We will spend this long day of 75ish miles (apparently very rainy day too) heading for Evreux. We will spend a night somewhere other than a ferry this time, which will be nice!
Then for the final day, we will head off for Paris! Luckily this day is shorter too - our legs will be feeling the previous two days, no doubt. So this day is looking to be 65ish miles.. We have booked an actual hotel for our reward for when we arrive in Paris which will be lovely, it has lifts too which is great.
I doubt we'll have a big romantic evening in Paris though. It'll be straight in the shower and then straight to bed. However we will be leaving Paris late the next day, so we'll be able to enjoy ourselves a bit!

So yes. I'm actually really rather excited.. which is strange.. and I'm sure I'll regret saying that in a few days time, but good luck Squibb!

Too tired to think of a good title.

The amount of effort going in to making this post is amazing.
You see, I just came back from a 60 mile bike ride. I'm shattered.
I fell in a puddle, had my photo taken by a random man with a pretty camera and cried a few times... (all unrelated incidents.... although that would've been a sight to see!)
So yes I am very tired. Luckily for me there was a lovely couple of parents who welcomed me with love and food as soon as I got home which was nice, but possibly adds to the 'shattered'ness.....

I think that's basically all. Just know that I am trying hard to get this money. So hard. So PAINFULLY hard. My whole right leg is covered in scratches, I can't really move my wrists and lets not even mention my leg muscles. Oh wow.
So yes. Give me money? I deserve it. (Only about £600 away from my total!!!!)

Open day chat

I think this is related to my blog...

Anyway! Today I went to my very first University Open Day! It was pretty quick seeing as I only thought about where I'd like to go two days ago but it looks like I'll only be able to go to 2 of the open days due to being too busy before I go, or actually being away in China

I had a lot of questions lined up to ask before we went as I think I'm quite a rare case - the fact that I'll be away during the whole interview process and that I haven't got any qualifications for Chinese yet (but hopefully that won't matter seeing as I'll be pretty good by the time I get back!)

There was a guy who's at SOAS already who I had a loooong chat with as he's on the course I want to be on... he mentioned that he's about to go on his year abroad (the course spends a year in Beijing for the 2nd year) and we got to talking about my year in Xinjiang! Long story short, he was soooo jealous that I was going to Xinjiang. After studying the country for a while he thinks that Xinjiang is one of the best places to go in the whole of China! I already assumed it would be really different even compared to 'normal' China as it's right on the boarder to Kazakhstan and other countries so there's a huge mix of people there. But he just kept going on about how amazing it would be and just HOW different it's going to be! So that got me so much more excited.

I also talked to a girl who's doing her last year at SOAS and apparently she got in with BCC from her A Levels, which makes me feel better. So if I don't quite make AAB then I'm hoping they'll let me in!

Also the Uni has 1.2 million books in the library (there's a whole floor dedicated to Chinese studies) so that'll be fun!

So yes. Exciting stuff.

The rest of the week looks like a mixture of psychology revision for my exam on Monday and cycling training for my bike ride to Paris next Wednesday - Good luck Squibb!
(if you happen to feel like donating [I'm only about £600 off my target of £5,100!] then please do on uk.virginmoneygiving.com/marysquibb, thank you!)

I forgot!

There is one other thing, I'm going up to Coll again for training! I'll be spending a week there learning how to teach, and about China and maybe some of the language. But also I'll be meeting the people who I'll be spending a year with! Can't wait to finally meet them all, we're going to have such a good week, a such a great year together!

Cycling.

It feels like I haven't posted in a very long time. That's probably because I haven't but it looks like I only really post at the beginning of every month!

In two weeks time I will be cycling from London to Paris. Very exciting stuff. I've been training (probably not as much as I should be) and building manly man muscles in order to make it. It's over 200 miles long but I'm doing it with my boyfriend (who's working in Honduras for the year with the same charity [they're called Project Trust for those of you who can't remember {triple bracket! How exciting}]) so it shouldn't be too bad! I'll have company along the way at least......

I think donations for trusts has come to a slow stop... I haven't had an exciting letter in the post in a long time which is sad but hopefully after this bike ride I won't need it!

It's pretty difficult juggling different things like my A Levels, learning Mandarin, reading up about the history of China etc, all made the more difficult now that I am in the very middle of exams!
So far I've taken a two and a half hour written drama exam (my hand hurt...) and have a one and a half hour exam and a two hour exam, both in psychology, to look forward to! Yay! On the bright side, they'll all be over in a bit more than a week.......

Along the education route, I've now taken to the plan of applying for University while I'm away in China.... This will be complicated but if I get my personal statement written and fill out the UCAS form and everything before I leave (yet another I need to do......) then all my mother will need to do is press the button while I'm away (and when I'm sure I'm sure that this is what I want to do of course..)
AH! What do I want to do I hear you ask?
Well. I really want to carry on learning the Chinese language and more about the country as it is just so different - it'll be so interesting! So the course I'm looking at at the moment is a BA in Chinese Studies - hopefully at SOAS in London. It was hard trying to look for the right course for me as most of the courses at other universities start you from scratch for the first year, and then you go to China for a year to experience the culture... but I would already have both of those from my gap year! But this course lets you start at any level you want language-wise. Great stuff!

I think that's everything... cycling, trusts (lack of), juggling, future. Yes.