Day seven

Day seven

Our last day of cycling, travelling from Kakamega to Kisumu (53km – 32miles). My back and knees hurt, my wrists and hands were sore and I had very little clean washing left, but I desperately didn’t want the challenge to end and as we set off out into the Kenyan countryside on our bikes for the last time, I felt really sad that this was the last day of the challenge. As usual Henk told us that the ride was “pretty flat,” ….yeah right! But at least today, the massive up hills were accompanied by nice down hills.

We also passed through farming villages, which were just utterly beautiful- exactly how I had imagined Kenya.

39km in we started to see Lake Victoria and our finish point. I felt myself welling up inside. This was it. All that training, fundraising and everything we had been through all week was about to come to a finish.

We plummeted down one last big down hill before grouping together in Kisumu town centre for the final leg. Here we tied balloons to our helmets and took pictures before we set off as a solid unit for the finish line. We caused quite a stir during that last part of the ride! Apart from the fact that we rode as a group, not allowing any traffic to come between us so that we could finish together, we were also 100 white women, in lycra, decked in balloons!! Quite a colourful parade!

As we neared The Sunset Hotel (where we would be staying for the night), we could hear music playing loudly, banners were hung over the entrance and champagne twinkled on large tables….all for us. We cheered and whooped as we dropped our bikes and hugged each other. Through tears and big smiles, we collected our medals from Ann and toasted the end of what had been the most amazing experience we could ever have wished for, before running down to the pool and jumping in fully clothed!

I’ve never experienced a feeling like the one I had that day. It’s so hard to explain how utterly elated I was. This was easily the biggest challenge I have ever taken on – particularly physically, but each and every one of us had done it and done it bloody well if I say so myself! I danced between unstoppable tears and hysterical grinning!

After we had eaten a well deserved lunch, we thanked the wonderful team of drivers and head washers that had kept us going throughout the trip, before heading out to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

I joined a group of girls and took at trip down to Lake Victoria. It’s not the most beautiful spot in the world I have to say, but there was plenty going on. Along the shore line were ‘hotels,’ basically shacks that sold drinks, and at the waters edge was a queue of cars and buses waiting to be washed in the lake. We settled down in one of the shacks and supped on cold fizzy drinks, watching the car wash team trying to start the engine of a car that had been driven too far into the water.

After our own buses had been washed, we jumped back on them and headed to the hotel for drinks of Tusker around the pool before dinner. The rooms that night left a bit to be desired…there were even rumours of bed bugs going around, but I think we were all so tired and happy that we soon zonked out! Not even the frog chorus outside kept us awake that night.