Day 1 and 2 - London to Nairobi and then to Nyeri

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As we met at Heathrow there was an air of anticipation and excitement - a heady mixture. We were all in our Women V Cancer t-shirts and given that there were 71 women in pink it wasn't difficult to find each other! Our tour assistant, Anna and our doctors, Sophie and Sarah were also with us on the plane out (lucky them - hope the doctors had some valium with them!).

The flight was uneventful and those of us who were able to slept did so, the rest of us like me, lay there too excited to sleep!

Monday morning we arrived blurry eyed in Nairobi. We were met by our second tour assistant Gideon and Action for Charities, Ann F. Straight onto a bus and on our way to Nyeri - the start point for our cycle ride.

At the Baden Powell Museum

Nyeri is Kenya's 8th largest town and the administrative capital for the Central Province. It is located in the Aberdare National Park with stunning views of Mount Kenya. Nyeri is famous for its links to Lord Baden-Powell and we visited Baden Powell's house now a museum and we got a chance to try out our bikes by cycling down to the museum. You can feel the altitude up the hills!

We had an hour or so with our fab bike mechanics to get our mountain bikes in shape. I managed to get my lovely gel, ergonomic saddle and my kit bag on to the bike. Still waiting nervously for the day when I get a puncture (in all the time I have been training I have never had a puncture - thank you puncture resistant tyres - you were worth the money but now I have no idea what to do if it happens). Anyway, all of us have prepped our bikes and are ready to go at 7 am tmrw! It is going to be a tough day with multiple hils and heat to contend with but we will end of up an elevation of 2200m and have some beautiful scenery to keep us entertained! Wish us luck.

We've just had a great meal, and about to turn in for the night in our fantastic hotel, the Green Hills, willing the night to go fast so we can get on with our adventure!!! More soon...

Some pics:

 

More pics are on FB: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.796540735850.2285955.202909845&type=1&l=2b3290ff29 

Slow internet so sorry for not posting more...