Day 1 — London Tested Us

The adventure finally began.

We took the train into Victoria early in the morning, rolled out into the heart of London, and made our first stop at Buckingham Palace before riding through the busy streets of the city.

We crossed through endless traffic lights, buses, cars parked in cycle lanes, taxis, tourists, and all the chaos that comes with central London.

We stopped by Westminster Bridge to capture one of those moments we had imagined for weeks, a photo with Big Ben and the London Eye before officially heading south towards Paris.

It was hot. Really hot.

The constant stopping and starting at traffic lights drained our momentum and energy.

London was tougher than we expected, both physically and mentally. It was a slow start, and there were moments where the doubts started creeping in:

Can I really do this?

Will we make it to the end today?

When so many people believe in you and support you, those thoughts become even louder because you don’t want to let anyone down.

We had to make a lot of stops throughout the day just to manage the load, recover, cool down, and keep going.

One of the nicest surprises of the day was riding through Morden Hall Park. After the noise and pressure of London, suddenly being surrounded by greenery and peaceful scenery felt like a reset button.

As we moved further away from the city, we reached the Downs, and the trails there were absolutely fantastic. The scenery, the flow of the route, and the fresh air reminded us why we started this journey in the first place.

Later, near Redhill, things became much tougher than expected. Parts of the original trail were so poorly maintained that we had to detour away from the planned route. Some sections were completely overgrown, with vegetation swallowing the path and nettles everywhere.

By the end of the day, we had completed 65.7 km.

Total journey time: 9h 11m.

Actual riding time: just over 5 hours.

The final 10 km became a battle of their own.

Teresa’s saddle officially declared war on her.

She was in pain, exhausted, and uncomfortable, but she refused to give up. She pushed through and completed Day 1 still smiling and in good spirits.

The final thought at the end of the day was simple:

Can the body recover in time for tomorrow?