Horncastle to Istanbul cycle DAY 11 - hills, sleepless nights, and missing home

​Paul Bargh and Neil Steeper are currently cycling from Horncastle and Scunthorpe respectively to Istanbul, raising money for Horncastle Squash Club, Cancer Research UK, and both of Paul’s former primary schools, Frithville Primary School and New York Primary School (read our previous update here).

After meeting at Hull to get the ferry across to Rotterdam to begin their epic challenge on Sunday, the route will see the duo average around 50km per day, cycling though Holland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.

We caught up with Paul and Neil yesterday afternoon (Wednesday June 12), 11 days into their epic challenge and near Mainz in southern Germany, stage four of their journey, and they are doing well as they are around half a day ahead of schedule.

Paul said that while their bodies have been coping well with the tough challenge, the tiredness due to sleepless nights was taking a toll:

"We camped next to a railway line and there was lots of noise throughout the night,” he said, “Both of us are tired but everything is going well so far, our equipment is handling it well.”

One of the toughest things, Paul said, is having to spend an hour setting up camp every day after a hard day’s cycling, as they are camping along the way to make sure their challenge is fully self-funded so all money goes to their charities.

But they are treating themselves to a couple of nights in an Air B&B near Rosenberg this weekend so they can get some decent sleep.

They have also been negotiating some hilly terrain over the last few days, which Paul said were similar to our Lincolnshire Wolds:

"We’ve had some good climbs and we’ve slowed down to get up them,” he said, “The headwinds have been tough though, it feels like you’re being blown around on all sides, not just head-on so it’s been quite a battle.”

Paul said that the challenge, set to take between eight and ten weeks altogether, is the longest time either of them have been away from their families and while they have been able to video chat with them, they are missing their loved ones.

“We’d really like to thank our families for their support, it’s really helped,” Paul added.

If any glamping, camping, hotels, or AirB&B establishments along the route would like to offer Paul and Neil a comfortable bed for the night on their challenge, or offer a home-cooked meal at any restaurants or inns, please contact Paul by emailing [email protected]

You can follow their progress on Strava at https://www.strava.com/athletes/137334952, and make a donation to their cause via their JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/paul-bargh