Day 16

Our final day with 100km to cycle to reach Barcelona. We were joined by Claire Lehman, who we had cycled the alps with last year and who had cycled from the UK to Barcelona over the Pyrenees to meet with us.

Setting off by 7am, the roads were quiet, the route easy and the temperature comfortable, The ride divided naturally into three parts, with the first 30km flying past, easily the fastest of my ride so far. A lovely, lively breakfast stop at a hill top cafe with all of the group together, left us feeling refreshed, revived and ready to tackle the next, more challenging 30km. Predominantly a slow uphill climb culminating in a significant hill which marked the last climb of our ride. The briefest of lunch stops with the final leg of our journey all downhill to Barcelona.

Congregating at our final hotel, the group cycled the last couple of kilometres together to the International Congress Centre, where the World Parkinson Congress was being held and where the Associació Catalans per al Parkinson were holding a welcome party for us – and what a welcome it was! The party was in full swing with the Italian and Spanish teams already there, along with Neil Russell who had run from London to Barcelona, doing a marathon a day for 36 days to get there and Gill Shaw who had bike packed through France and Spain to get there. Kudos to both of them for their achievements.

The atmosphere was wonderful as we arrived, bells ringing, whistles blowing, music playing to a huge cheer and a welcoming crowd. Amongst the crowd, I spotted Julie and Sheena who had supported me so much already and who had flown out to Barcelona for one day only to be there for our arrival. What a wonderful surprise.

The party atmosphere carried us through an emotional, lively and frenetic few hours. We sang, danced and celebrated our arrival with warm hearts, a few tears, a lot of laughter and a huge sense of achievement.

Thanks to Rune Bjerke for the video