Cycle Kenya Cancer has affected many people that I know personally. It has been 10

years since my own mother died of cancer at the age of 56 and this was my way of doing something about it.

I signed up for the challenge not knowing anyone else taking part but the actually cycling was just one aspect of the challenge I was doing. There were the social aspects of going on a journey/adventure with 90 other

women whom I did not know and to cope with the climatic and standard of living, and quality of facilities and services in Kenya.

My own children did not want me to go but I knew that it was something that I had to do and I wanted to show them that it is sometimes good to

take risks and to challenge yourself even when you are very nervous about it! I know that my mother would have also worried had she still been here

but she would never have stopped me from doing it. It was definitely an adventure and something I will never forget.

The route.....

Day 1 – Overnight flight from London to Nairobi

Day 2 – Transfer from Nairobi to Nyeri

This does not show exactly how 60’s /70’s this building really was!

However once outside it looked more developed and slightly more modern as I had originally expected

Until I saw the buses and our luggage on the top!

As we left Nairobi it was almost immediate how the standard of buildings and infrastructure changed – I saw very little evidence of a developed captial city on the way out of Nairobi on the first day.

We passed the ‘Birmingham’ of Kenya without seeing much evidence of the industrial side of it

We stopped off on the first day for lunch next to a gift shop and cafe.

Some of the wares at the gift shop – I bought an ebony crocodile here

We arrived at our first hotel – The Green Hills in Nyeri where we got ourselves organised and our bikes fitted.

It was fairly basic but much better than I had anticipated so I was quite relieved

I didn't know about the swimming pool until we were about to leave!

We then got changed and went on a warm up ride to see if the bikes were OK up to Baden Powell’s Grave

We all had a rather ‘apprehensive ‘ meal before hearing more about the challenge ahead!

Day 3 – Nyeri – Nyahururu Day 1 of Cycling – 98/99km

We passed some fairly grim looking places

We past views of Mount Kenya

We stopped off at a local church for lunch which once one of the most impressive in terms of the quality of the building I saw all week

The local school children waited outside the grounds patiently- some more sombre than others!

This was the massive difference I noticed with all the Kenyans – they started off very serious looking until you said hello (or Jambo!) and then their faces would light-up and be really friendly – often shouting ‘How are you?’

They all sang to us then the trip organiser gave them two carrier bags of the things we had brought over for the schools such as pens, pencils, colouring books and small play equipment

This was the first time I cross the equator and watched the locals show us how the water would change direction either side

We stopped at Thomson’s Fall Lodge that night which was alright but had a rather long power cut which was strange as it meant that everything was PITCH BLACK – I suppose that it why they had told us to take a torch!

Day 4 –Nyahururu - Nakuru Day 2 of Cycling – 57km

Today was a really nice ride through many tea and coffee plantations and we stopped at one point at the top of the rift valley – this is Jo who I cycled with most of the time

It was a bit precarious at the edge of the cliff!

Whilst it had been fun cycling down we had to cycle up the other side of the rift valley

We stopped off in what was a children’s play area which also had a bar (it was more a shed where someone sold bottles of beer! The photos on the rights show how there would always be two bowls out – one with normal (clean) water in it and the other with dettol so that we could wash our hands before eating – there was always a team of locals to do the washing up!

Then we transferred by bus to the Soi Safari Hotel next to Lake Beringo

However it was quite eventful when a section of the road had been washed away in the previous wet season!

We eventually got to the hotel that night which had Ostriches and a sea eagle in cages in their grounds.

We decided to go on a boat trip on Lake Beringo once there to see if we could see some hippos and other wildlife – we did see one hippo, a crocodiles and lot and lots of birds.

Our guide was “Jeff” as seen on the previous slide. However at one point he had to stop he guided tour to answer his phone! – I was amazed how everyone seemed to have a mobile phone. However I later learned that they are often paid via their mobile phones as they do nto have bank accounts etc and can pay for things with their mobile phones – it also explained why I had an amazing mobile phone signal in the middle of no-where! –Much better than the signal back in the UK!!

The staff of the hotel did a traditional song and even made us a cake due to it being Valentines Day! They sang and danced all round the room and were incredibly friendly and good fun!

I did have to share the room with a couple of other guests!

Day 5 – Kabernet - Eldoret Day 3 of Cycling – 85km

This was the most challenging day of the ride crossing the Kerio Valley and climbing the Elgeyo escarpment . We transferred in the morning from Beringo to Kabernet. Then started tih 18km of downhill which was fairly steep. After about 28km we encountered a very serious climb on windy roads through a pretty forest with lots of butterflies. We were given the opportunity to take up eith the Bronze (6km), Silver (17km) or Gold (23km) Hill Challenge. I made it to the Silver Challenge which I was pleased with as it was more than many did and was more than my original intention! We then spent the night at Eldoret.

I had stopped for a toilet stop but saw this and thought better of it!

I took very few photos this day as was concentrating on cycling uphill so much!

Day 6 Eldoret – Kakamega Day 4 of Cycling – 92km

Day 7 Kakamega - Kisumu Day 5 of Cycling – 53km

After we finished we got a taxi to the Lake and went out to see more hippos! It was a lovely trip as we saw the contrasts in wealth so clearly with big hotels near the shore to the locals doing their washing and bathing in the Lake water – you could see some had even collected their water from the Lake – a really scary thought as it was not the cleanest of Lakes I had seen.

Local Life around the Lake

This is one of my favourite pictures – they all looked and seemed so happy jumping off the rocks into the Lake.

Drinking Water?

Some has a celebratory swim in the swimming pool once we had finished

Thanking the ground crew for all their hard work

Evening View of Lake Victoria - just before the electrical storm which plunged us into darkness and from our poolside seats to inside!

Day 8 Kisumu - Nakuru No Cycling!!

On our transfer by bus to Nakuru we stopped at

an old colonial coffee and tea plantation house.. You could see how grand it once was as it had not been altered and despite being in a state of disrepair you could see and imagine how grand it once was.

In the afternoon we had the chance to take part in a game drive through Nakuru National Park.

Here the staff sang and made cakes for Henk (tour guide) and Rosie (the trip doctor) whose Birthdays were today

Day 9 Nakuru - Nairobi No Cycling!!

On our transfer by bus to Nairobi we stopped at the David Sheldrick Elephant orphanage where we saw their current elephants. Most had arrived due to poaching from nearby parks and some from bordering countries.

After the orphanage we stopped off in Nairobi City centre at the Cancer Care Offices for the Faraja Project. We heard some of the success stories but also some of the problems where women had been unable to accept treatment as they could not leave their families (their children) behind and those that had attended treatment but then could not find their children when they returned. One thing that stood out was how plush the office and surrounding were when they were a charity trying to fund essential cancer treatment – even when doing such a valuable thing the contrasts in wealth were very much apparent. It made my lunch that they served that day rather bitter – I think I’d rather have done without.

Our last hotel was amazing......

I became slightly obsessed with toilets on my journey and as soon as I got into the Ole Sereni Hotel as it was so nice and ‘normal’ I took a photograph! The one on the right was one of the ‘posh’ wash rooms I came across whilst cycling during the day.

These on the left were on the lines of the usual standard of toilet but even this one above was again a definite ‘upmarket’ toilet as it was whitewashed and relatively clean compared to the ‘usual’ standard of toilet (I only went in one and could not get close enough for long enough to even take a picture!!!).

Day 10 Nairobi – London

Day 11 – Overnight in Terminal 3

I’ve got to say I love Hilton hotels!!