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Irshad, from London
The Peace Cycle, Week One
Salaam all
the first week of my peace cycle has passed and this was my
only opportunity
to send an email out. i am currently in bastogne in the
south of belgium
where we have been givan an opportunity to rest. days on the
peace cycle are
long and tireing. breakfast is at 7am each morning and we
are on our bikes
by 8. that is exhausting due to the fact that we dont get to
bed till
midnight. so equipped with a 7 hour sleep and a bready
breakfast we leave to
go to the next destination.
it seems a long time ago when we left london last sunday
with butiful
weather. it didnt last long coz it rained for the next 4
days. so we have
been cycling in the cold and wet with soggy socks. we were
in france for one
night after which we have spent the last few days in
belgium. the media has
responded well in belgium - unlike in the uk. we were on the
main news
broadcast on national tv and in one national newspaper. we
have been
welcomed by the people and inspired them to become active in
the palestinian
cause. when we were in brussels we had a large group of
locals cycle with us
and at the end of the day they decided to organise a belgian
peace cycle
where they cycle around belgium for peace in the middle
east.
belgium is an intresting country where you have different
groups of people.
you have the french speekers and the flemish speekers and
the two are not
fond of each other. however when we cycled with the locals
the spirit and
the comaradary was brilliant - we managed to unite the two
groups and
hopefully this will be the begining of something positive in
terms of the
peoples response to the situation in palestine.
the peace cyclist are a brilliant bunch of people. each
individual has their
own role in the group and the group has gelled together
brilliantly. cycling
is tough - and its tougher when we have to cycle to a
schedule. we have to
be in certian places for the media at certian times - and
also certian
events which have been organised. this becomes really tough
when we have to
cycle up a hill to get to the next town.
i miss my bed i miss my sleep but we are being fed well
excuse my spelling mistakes but i am typing on a french
keyboard - thats my
excuse anyway
Peace and justice for us all
irshad
Irshad, from London
Week 2 Day 4
Salaam All
what a week - those hills are getting harder by the day.
currently
in strasbourg. had an easy ride today so i have got the
energy to
write tonight.
last time i wrote i was full with strength and entusiasm so
ill
pretend i have still got some. we still havent had two days
of
sunshine in a row yet so it looks like the same rain cloud
is
following us around europe.
the ride from bastogne to luxumborg on sunday was the day i
had the
honor of being lead rider - which means im the boss and set
the
pace. we had to be in luxmbourg by 1445 to meet a police
escort into
the city so i had to cycle to a deadline. this means it
makes
everyting more difficult because you have to hurry everyone
up at
breaks and at lunch to meet the deadline. i had the lead
vehicle in
front of me showing me the way and all the cyclist behind
me. we
were going down a hill so we were going quite fast when the
road
narrowed around a bend, and the lead car stopped suddenly -
so you
can guess what happened next.
i gave the car as good as i got and i escaped with a bloody
knee
whereas the car got a nasty scratch. it happens to be the
time of
accidents because nav had a nasty one too. his jacket got
caught in
the wheel and he went head first. thank god for helmets. he
is now
going from bike shop to bike shop looking for new forkes.
we made front page news in luxumbourg and today in france we
made
our own media event. we were cycling to our hostel when we
found a
tv station so we planned to make some noise outside it. we
came back
after a shower and sang our song outside the tv station and
sent
someone in to talk to them. next moment we were cycling
around the
city with a camera crew following us.
anyway the queue behind me in the internet cafe is growing
so ill
continue in when im on my rest day in zurich on sat
take care
irshad
Salaam All
in milan now - spent too long in swiss land for my
liking. that
country is beutiful if you are not cycling through it.
mind you if
you really want to enjoy switzerland it would help if
you have a
swiss bank account. they were charging £6 yeas six
british pounds to
use the internet in that country - thats why i waited
untill i got
back intothe eurozone.
anyway before we got to switzerland we spent a day
cycling 100 odd
miles through 3 different countries from strassbourg (france)
to
basel (ch) via friburg (germany). we were met by the
mayor of
friburg and gave interviews to the local radio station.
then we had
lunch at sheridans hajj sisters house and it was the
best peace
cycle lunch ever! we slept for an hour after that before
we
continued on our 80km ride to basel. 80km before lunch
80km after
lunch never to be done again.
switzerland = the alps - what can i say - for one they
are
definately not flat. we had a rest day in zurich before
we attempted
to climb them.when we left zurich in the morning we had
a mad
zionist who tried to intimidate us by snaking around us
in his car
whilst we were cycling. he swore at us and went around a
few times
before he got bored. that was just a warm up to get the
blood
flowing to the head. we had to go through 3 valleys
before we get to
the intense climb so we got them out the way on sunday.
monday was
the first day of climbing and it was a gradual gradient
- the thing
was that you know you have to continue uphill for 35km.
we did it no
problem in an astonishing 3 1/2 hours. we were all
suprised because
we thought it would take us 6 hours to do the distance.
the second day was the final climb to the peak. the
gradient was
steeper and you have the hairpin turns. 7km to the peak
where it was
absolutly freezing (but not snowing). the best bit comes
whenwe are
going dowhill - speeds of upto 40 miles per hour before
breaking to
get around the hairpins. it only lasted 20 mins then we
had to get
off the main road because it was too dangerous due to
the
traffic.big mistake from the cyclist point of view
because the
quieter road was cobbled. so we are going downhill on
cobblled roads
vibrating like maniancs and not having a good time.
anyway we in italy now and the sun is shining and it
looks like we
have finally lost that rain clound that has followed us
around
europe. maybe it couldnt get over the alps. the people
in italy
seemmore welcoming thenthe swiss. the response you get
when you give
people a leaflet is much more positive.
take care
irshad
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