CUBA TRIP - DAY FIVE

26.11.10 – Santa Clara – Cienfuegos – Havana - 78km cycled
Off at the usual time of 7.45; very busy traffic (in Cuban terms anyway!) again.  Lots of heavy vehicles and fumes, but after about 10km we’re out on smaller roads and passed through some lovely villages and towns.  Today was designated photo day as I’ve been so focused on finishing I’ve not taken as many shots with my SLR as I’d have liked.  So I carried the compact and took a lot more shots.
In one small town there was a huge contrast between the beautiful old colonial-style houses on one side of the road, and the communist apartment blocks on the other.

Nice flat roads today but very hot.  I forgot to apply the Vaseline but my rear has probably got so leathery I didn’t notice the lack of it!  Slacked a bit in the sunscreen front too and now it looks like I’m wearing red stockings!  

Picnic lunch again and then we re-grouped for the final stretch and, despite asking the ones who had always been at the front to hold back and let the slower ones go first, Gill managed to get herself to the front again!   Anna had been very emotional at the last stop, as she had to finish and go on the bus with Sonia to prepare the “finish line” and I must admit I found myself a little teary towards the end.  This has been such an emotional and all-consuming experience.

The finish was tremendous; banners, cocktails, general hugs and jubilation all round.  We took our bits off our bikes and then went into the very grand yacht club for lunch.
We all sat by the water and Maneir went for a swim fully clothed!  I managed to cut my toe in the water and needed the doctor, just after we’d “paid her off” too!
Then back on the bus for the 3 hour drive back to Havana and we had one hour to get ready for the fancy dress evening.  Maggie was a pensioner complete with nylon dress and cardi, rollers on and stockings falling down!  And Jackie was “Two fat ladies” – fantastic although how she sat down for dinner with balloons down the back of her trousers I have no idea.  They were very worthy joint winners.  Poor Kevin had put a lot of effort into his bingo costume but too, but seems to have gone down with sunstroke as he could hardly hold his drink for shaking.
Stayed up till 12 but many others were up till 5am at least!
I make the total miles to be 388km

CUBA TRIP - DAY FOUR

25.11.10 – Sancti Spiritus – Santa Clara – 83km
Great day!
The cute little puppy, who I’ve called Diego, was outside our room waiting for us when we got up!  He came in for a cuddle and a nap; we found out afterwards he’s spent the night on the bed in someone else’s room!
The weather was overcast and we had a spot of rain but, after yesterday where there was very little shade, it was most welcome.  We started off in quite heavy traffic out of town, which was not fun (fuel emissions are not of any concern for the Cubans!) but soon riding through smaller towns which made for an interesting ride.
In fact Mark missed one of the rest stops and carried on for 30kms on his own!  He kept to the main road, found a bar and was waiting for us when we arrived!

We had a picnic lunch again and we’d made record time and finished at 2.30.  In fact it would have been earlier but the bus driver got lost on the way to the hotel so of course he was followed round and round by a chain of 40 cyclists!
As we made such good time we visited the Che Guevara Mausoleum, which is very grand and spectacular.

The hotel was good again and I managed to stay up till 10.30 – a record!  The evening entertainment told the story of slavery and was really rather good.  Tonight a tried a Cuba Libra which was a bit unexciting – tried 2 Pina Colada instead just to make sure they’re really my favourite!

CUBA TRIP - DAY THREE

24.11.10 – Trinidad- Sancti Spiritus – 82km
We were bused over to Trinidad and had a tour with Ennio until 10am.  It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and absolutely beautiful, but decayed in large parts!  Before we arrived Ennio advised us not to buy cigars from someone on the street as they’re often made of newspapers; he cited the Independent as a likely paper to be used!  I was approached, but if you decline no-one hassles you unduly; it feels very safe.  There were a few people begging and they’re quite persistent but again you feel safe.  Bought a couple of coconut shells with faces painted with acrylic paint-very lovely.

The cycling today was very hard; very windy, very hot with quite a few “nippy hills”.  No-one believes what Miriam tells us about the terrain any more; she tends to play them down but perhaps she has to.  A few people were poorly with tummy bugs today and quite a few took the bus to sit out a stage or two.  I was told after that there were 14 on the bus at one point!
I did have to push a bit up the last hill before lunch; the wind meant we had to pedal to go downhill so it all felt uphill and coming round the corner to that last hill was too much!  It was my only non-cycling section of the whole trip and even the young super-fit ones found today difficult so I don’t feel too bad about it!
Crossed the line hand in hand with Willy, who’d had a bad day (as we all had to be honest!)
We finished by re-grouping and riding into town and to the hotel, where the rooms are in little blocks in the garden.
Before dinner, Gill gave a very emotional talk.  She is doing the ride as her brother has leukaemia and has been the recipient of donor marrow, so the trip is very pertinent for her.  Yosune very moved too as her mother had myeloma several years ago and in fact had the same treatment that Francis is undergoing.  Although she is fine now, Gill’s talk obviously brought back some painful memories for her.
After dinner, where we sat with Gaynor who only had a bread roll due to her upset tummy, there were Salsa lessons at the bar but I hadn’t tried enough cocktails to join in! Mark and Gaynor have climbed Kilimanjaro and she reckons this challenge is much harder than that!
Very cute puppy at the bar- want to take him home but imagine Dora would not be too impressed!

CUBA TRIP- DAY TWO

23.11.10 – Cienfuegos to Trinidad – 106km
Slept sort of OK, at breakfast at 7am ready for an early start.  Warm-up by Maneir, complete with big fat Cuban cigar in his mouth at the same time! 
Today was brilliant; a wonderful start riding downhill with the glistening sea down below.  We have some steep slopes (“nippy hills” according to Miriam, but more of that later!) but nothing I can’t manage.  1^st stop after 12km or so and then the next is by the house of a lady called Maria who very kindly lets us all use her loo!   

Bananas and fizzy drinks on offer.  We have lunch at La Vega farm restaurant; good but huge (I gave half my portion away to Neil).  It rained whilst we were eating which was well planned!  A few people took advantage of a lift in the van as we were promised a quite hilly section but I have already decided that is an option I won’t be taking- people have sponsored me for a lot of money and I’m not letting anyone (or myself) down unless I have no choice.
The scenery today was stunning; mountains with lush green vegetation.  And the people are so friendly; calling out from the roadside and waving. At a stop this afternoon lots of children came out and people were giving them sweets, letting them listen to their i-players etc.  The hotel was superb; right on the sea so the first thing most of us did was rush to our rooms, change into swimming gear and dash into the sea.  Andre went in wearing all her cycling gear!  Never has a swim felt so good!  The meal was much better tonight and tried a Trinidad Colonial; orange, grenadine, Curacao and rum- very colourful and not bad at all!  The evening entertainment was not good, an international flavour – we want Cuban!

No doubt about it; today was hard but I managed it and didn’t find it too hard, so all the training has paid dividends.

CUBA TRIP- DAY ONE

I've left out the "getting to Cuba bit" which isn't of much interest; suffice to say it was a long trip!

A wrote a journal each night and so the blog is this journal, pretty much as written at the time with a few editorial adjustments afterwards!

22.11.10 – Havana to the Bay of Pigs to Cienfuegos – 40km cycled

Not much sleep again so get up a little before the alarm went off at 6, showered and went for a little explore round the hotel.  Phoned Bill from by the pool – reception is as clear as a bell.

Had a very chaotic start to the day; didn’t hear instructions to wear my cycling shirt so had to fix that, left my luggage key in the ladies and general disarray!  But we get off (more or less) on time and head off to the Bay of Pigs.  Our guide, Ennio, explained some interesting things such as the colour coding for school uniforms; primary students wear red and white, secondary wear yellow and as far as I recall, Orange was for technical college students.  Colour-coding is obviously a big thing, as car number plate colours as well as the numbers and letters give a great deal of information about the driver, rather than the vehicle - In Cuba number plates identify the driver not the vehicle and a range of colours and codes identify everything from your status in "the party" to your nationality and even how you make a living.

The colour coding of number plates is a system by which the powers that be have kept tabs on people for decades. Indeed it is a system copied from the USSR.

Government owned vehicles have dark grey number plates with white letters. The numbers signify where and when the vehicle can be driven and whether it can be used for personal as well as official duties. Bosses at government owned companies get blue plates. They can only use their cars for getting to work and back. In Cuba, the first letter on the number plates show which province the car is from, "H" for Havana for example. Army vehicles have red number plates, pale-green plates are for vehicles used by the Economic Ministry. Purple number plates are for embassy staff, who have certain immunity to traffic laws; this also applies government ministers or heads of state organisations.

The first two digits on the number plates of diplomats indicate the diplomatic rank of the driver. For example, if you see a vehicle with the number plate xxx-003, that means the driver is the 3rd highest ranking diplomat from that particular embassy.

The public transport system can’t cope with the people needing to move around and so there are hordes of people standing in certain key areas hoping to get lifts.  If they have money in their hands, they are prepared to pay someone over the odds to get to their destination quickly, even though it’s illegal.  Tour buses such as ours aren’t allowed to pick up locals whilst we’re using it due to previous trouble with thefts from tourists but, once we’re off, the driver has to pick people up if he has the space!

We stopped for our first break at a roadside café/shop with some very skinny dogs.  As we pulled up, all the people in the shop jumped to attention; put music on and put out more souvenirs.

Driving around you can see what a subsistence rural lifestyle they have; lots of people scything by the side of the road for no apparent reason; Alison explains that everyone must have a job and so there are lots of pointless activities going on.

There are 40 of us, excluding Sonia and Anna; a much larger than the average group apparently.

We arrive at the bay of pigs and we’re introduced to the cycling crew who will look after us  and then we have our bike fitting. 

  This is at a lovely bay with palm trees and we set off with the ocean next to us- fantastic!.  We stop for lunch at a beach-side café which was really good with some pork and really tender chicken (cue more cute dogs!) The off-road section of 12km is not my favourite but at least I missed the assault by crabs that the front riders got, we just encountered all the squashed ones!  We cover in all a little over 40k between 11am and 16.45 when our cycling guide, Miriam, forces us to stop as she won’t let us ride in the dark. 1hour and 20 minutes to the hotel where we have a very mediocre supper.  Miriam (our cycling guide) described the hotel as a bit eastern bloc but it’s fine and there’s a great band playing in the foyer when we arrive who then return to play by the bar after the meal.  Try my first Mojito which is pretty good and cheap (much cheaper than the hotel in Havana apparently).  Tuck up at 10 and hope to get a good night’s sleep.

Map of cycle route on left

BACK HOME - WHAT A CHANGE IN TEMPERATURE

This will be my penultimate post.
I'm safely returned from a life changing and life enhancing experience with a great group of 42 people (including the lovely Sonia and Anna from Anthony Nolan). Together we have raised £117,000 for the Anthony Nolan Trust, and that figure is still growing!
When I get a moment I'll update this blog with details of the trip and some photos, just bear with me whilst I get back into non-cycling mode!
A huge thanks to everyone who supported/helped/sponsor me.

WELL ON THE WAY!

I leave in 4 days days to cycle 373km round Cuba in aid of the Anthony Nolan Trust. I've put in approx. 1250 miles of training since July so am as fit as I can be!
So far I've raised £4,160 for the Anthony Nolan Trust - so many thanks for your help and support in helping this wonderful organisation save lives.
A massive thanks to all of you!!!
And for those who haven't donated yet, it's not too late- see my link

The next blog will be when I return, with some wonderful experiences and photos to share!