Amsterdame09 Last Day!!

The ferry landed at 8am in Hull and once they had cleared customs they were off!! The three groups kept to the original route up to Brantingham where they stopped for an hour and had a great write up on the pubs website. Check out the article headed Daffodil Girls..at www.thetritoninn.com under the news link.

From there they headed to Howden through some pretty villages. After a very nice pub lunch they headed towards Knedlington and on to Barmby On The Marsh, cycling along the river bank. Whilst on the river bank Diane asked Craz, leader of Team Chaos ( this was the name they gave themselves!!), if she could ring our daughter Emily, as they were going to go through Hemingbrough. Craz said yes so Diane rang ahead and announced that Team Chaos would be riding through the village! The whole team stopped outside the church and Emily managed to get a hug from Diane and also gave hugs to Lisa, Jayne & Lianne.

Diane told me later on that the whole team was in tears when hugs were being handed out and that after she received her hug it spurred her on and she flew the rest of the way!!

At 6pm 54 ladies could be heard singing 'Here Come The Girls' and as they rounded the corner in to the car park they were honking their horns, waving their arms and shouting 'Woop Woop!' at the tops of their voices! Immediately there were party poppers going off, champagne corks being popped and lots of cheering and clapping. You should have been there it was amazing!!

For the next hour there were lots of photos and hugs and tears as the girls greeted family and friends but also as they said goodbye to each other - who knows if they will all meet up next year for Amsterdame10??



Diane has had an amazing trip and is still on a high. What an achievement 250 miles in 5 days! A lot of hard work by all the ladies but special thanks must go to the ride guides, Craz, Gaz, Matt, Ginny, Michelle and Sian and to Mitch & Simon from Red Courier who provided the support vehicles and who according to Craz were fantastic!!


The Ride Guides!!

Diane & I would like to thank everyone who has made a donation and I can tell you all that as I write this entry the total currently stands at £22,431.70 which is an amazing total!!

If you feel inspired by the ladies and want to donate then please go to www.justgiving.com/amsterdame09 and if you want to do the ride next year then look up Charity Adventure who organise these events at www.charityadventure.org.uk.



All I can say is ... what's next???

Amsterdame09 Day 3

Spoke to Diane who advises that the ride back from Amsterdam to Rotterdam was fine and that they made good time as they were at the ferry terminal by 6pm however she did have a bit of a tumble but is ok.

Spoke to Diane later on around 10pm after she had managed to get a shower and some food. Diane says the whole team is in high spirits and that a few of the ladies are now feeling the aches and pains. I wonder if the bottles of champagne had anything to do with the high spirits!! Diane says they are all looking forward to docking in Hull and the final leg back to York.

The ladies are aiming to be back in York for 6pm. You can still donate on line at www.justgiving.com/amsterdame09.

I will update you tomorrow on the last leg of the journey.

Amsterdame09 Day 1

Up at 6am, had a shower then breakfast loaded the car with the bike and luggage and set off for McArthur Glen arriving bang on 8am.

We parked up and off loaded Dianes bike and luggage. Fitted her panniers and handlebar bag to the bike and Diane had a quick ride round the car park to make sure everything was working ok.

We then had many photo opportunities before Gary & Richard the lead ride guides called all the ladies together and give them a safety briefing, more photos were taken and then the ladies were told to go to the toilet and make sure they filled their water bottles up!!



After lots of hugs and kisses from family and friends the ladies were all lined up at the start line. The ladies have been split into three groups and to avoid any crashes at the start they were set off at 5 minute intervals.

I am able to track the ride and noticed after about an hour and a half Dianes group had stopped. Diane informed me that one of the ladies had got a puncture and so they were busy fixing it and taking the chance to take on board some water!!

The group arrived in Market Weighton for lunch at 12.30pm, had a tea break at 3.30pm at Brantingham and arrived on the outskirts of Hull at 5.30pm. They eventually arrived at the ferry terminal around 6.30pm



They boarded the ferry around 7.15pm and set sail at 9pm. Diane did say that the ride was hard due to a few hills and the pace was quicker than they were expecting but she is feeling good, she has no aches and no sore bits!!

Diane and all the ladies are feeling good and relaxed and they are even collecting donations on the way!!

Please sponsor them at www.justgiving.com/amsterdame09. The total needed is £30,000 and it currently stands at £21,500. This is a massive task and it will spur the ladies on if I can say the total has gone up again!!

More uodates to follow but in the mean time please sponsor the ladies :-)