Nigel and the Fatboy's get home...just

We had a 'business as usual' trip back to the UK! After we re arranged the passengers in our carriage at Reims to get the bikes into the space we had booked, we travelled to Paris where we had an hour to wait for our connection. So we decided to have some musscles and chips at a restaurant, and they weren't to quick, so when it arrived we had 10 minutes to eat it, and pay the bill before charging through the traffic, AND an almighty traffic jam! and into the station, look for the platform, get on and away we went with seconds to spare!!!! No change there then!! When we got to Calais International, the station was 5 miles outside the town, so had to get back on the bikes and pedal into force 8 gale of a head wind into town, all round every where to get to the docks, book onto a ferry with a 90 minute wait, when the heavens opened and the rain came down cutting off the visibility to 20meters! The channel crossing was ok, we got through customs and cycled to the station, bought tickets, had a couple of pints of beer while waiting for the train to arrive, back to St Pancras station in London, back on the bikes, cycle to Euston station, have another pint while waiting for ther train, arrive back at Antonys house about 11:30pm, a quick whiskey as a night cap, and to bed!!! I got back to Macclesfield on Monday about midday, I think I have just about recovered now!!

Head home tomorrow

Hi,  well I am having a lazy Sunday arvo , but earlier went for a long ride out of the touristy area and ended up by accident in the best know flea market and antique shops and "thieves market" I have ever seen. Saint-quen at the gates of Clignancourt . A  series of markets. The antiques have to be seen to be believed, our High St malvern is a toy shop compared to this. Specializing in, Biron, Vernaison, Serpette, Rosier. Wow! Can't get a bike box for love nor money in Paris so am going to ride to the airport tomorrow and try and buy one from the airlines...... Bit of a gamble  but should be ok?????  Have eaten well, seen so much and travelled so far, I feel like I have done so much this time. The body has held out well and the bike has been perfect , not even a puncture in 850 km & some pretty rough tracks. 2100 km with trains, five countries. I looked at a map of the world today and was shocked at the amount of distance covered. Ah well I'll be home on Tuesday morning and start planning the Vietnam ride. Had a call this morning from a guy in country Victoria who saw my ad and wants to sign up ....... Here we go again . Ron

Sent from Ron's phone. Regards Ron







Sent from Ron's phone. Regards Ron

Monday´s big ride 30.8.21010 from Mark

Sorry for the delay in my last report of my travels. Poor internet or phone not sure which... See YOU soon PETER.....

Ron and the Fatboys hope you all got to your respective destinations in resonable shape.
Thank you again Fatboys for a memorable ride through Europe.

No home goal for me; the rain was pelting down from the kick off, I waited an hour over breakfast and decided it was not going to ride itself. So I swam out to my bike and placed one pedal after another.

Decided that I would not take the easy way out and rode past the train station. Then 45 minutes later the sun came out. That only left me to battle the wind gusting to 30 klms and the hills. very slow time and as soon as I would dry out a breif bucket of rain would mke me wet again.

I peddaled on towards Brussels not knowing how much longer I could take the conditions. The Belgian boarder was a welcome sight, also a reason to stop and ring Andrew for his birthday.

the day continued on much the same one big slog. Only there were bike lanes over the boarder. not great but better than nothing.

With no directions I ended up next to a train station called Midi where the Euro Star departs in Brussels.
The sky was turning again so i decided to wait until the next shower went through before looking for a hotel.
Fate took a hold again and Francios SMSed me when I would arrive.
So as quickly as it started my ride was over. I was welcomed into to my familys arms and another tough 100 kms day was over; with a warm shower the world looked betteer again.

Learn and reaffirmed many thoughts on this trip.

You are the sum of your acheivements. Failure brings you closer to yournext success.

Clearly the world is not flat; there are many hills even in Europe.

And the rain on the plain does not fall in Spain but in France.........


It has been a fantastic trip; the people and sights will remain with me.

Now all there is to dois pack my bike and head home.

So to my co bike riders and family. it has been a memorable trip.

Yes I can not find the commer on this key board.......


Bye to all from Mark.....

Another Blint made it from Kiev to Paris 65 years on

Got away from Fontainbleau like clockwork and was in Paris in about 40 minutes on a fast clean double decker train, no charge for the bike. Very efficient. Jumped straight on the bike and got my bearings no problems, heavy traffic was easy
 as the driver attitude here is calm and stress free. All drivers seem to allow the rights of each other nicely . My theory of , the bigger the population  and the fewer rules works well and there is no resentment of each other. I was on the open top busses all day and never saw one angry incident. Took in all the sights in fine warm weather, don't know why this is not peak season just 'cos it's September . Found a Best Western hotel near the centre of everything for 105E ($147aud) per night. 68E was not livable , by me anyway. Booked in tomorrow for a byo bike tour of this beautiful city. Can't wait!!!! When it's done I will keep riding all day, maybe to Sacre-Coeur, Montmartre, I can't think of a nicer thing to do......exploring on a bike is like flying.    Now that I have arrived in Paris, I feel a great sense of achievement , I embarked on a huge task and at 57 years of age feel like I can do anything now. I guess that's how my father felt when he finally got to Paris after, training, fighting, being shot, bayonetted, captured several times, escaping several times, hiding, disguising, freezing, healing others, helping others and finally making it home to Glasgow. That was not the end of the story for dad, and it won't be my last story either.................. Thanks for following this story. . Ron Blint

Ron continues a little further too .......

Hi Mark, glad you are ok, couldnt contactt you at all. Great work!!! Saw the boys off on the train this morning and it made me feel a bit sad and lonely, mark also headed off on his bike to Family in Brussells.  Sunday 29 th Zaya & Gabby (proprietors of our hotel in Reims) have been great to me . Last night she cooked me dinner. Gave me champagne  and chivas free. I served a customer, made friends with the clients, one of whom was a very big champion champers grower. Monday 30 th crusants, tea juice and a fond goodbye. Gauby insisted we swap details for my safety, what a nice man. Left Reims at about 9.00am and took B roads cos they are safer with less traffic. Used the maps in phone really well till I lost service and got lost. Had to use small toy compass Yarn gave me to keep riding south. Scenery was stunning in the champagne region. Had to hide  for cover during a huge rain storm but didn't last long. Finally rode into Monti........... And found an old home run by an old couple serving old meals, what can you expect for 45E . Next morning I adjusted the brakes and headed for Fontainbluer 110 km away . I thoroughly enjoyed the ride as it was sunny, tailwind and no rush at all. With 25 km to go I met my first cyclist whilst riding . He was a fit looking guy of about  my age. We chatted for a while, each in our own language but we managed very well. He insisted on giving me his goo's (riders food) them offered to draft me into Fontainbluer . An offer way too good to refuse considering I was only doing about 22 km per hr . He upped the rate but kept checking with me till we rode all the way into town doing  34km per hour. One for the Aussies!! I followed him through town straight to the palace where Napoleon lived! What a treat as he showed me around including the changing of the guard @ the lake with the biggest carp I have ever seen. I found the Victoria hotel & for a mere 88E per night I can  live very well. The reason I chose Fontainbluer is because Dad came here just before he returned to Glasgow. I wil meet up with one of my ex staff who is in France for a year. Regards Ron

Mark continues a little further

The Fatboys celebrated the end of a fantastic ride covering a good part of Europe, in a fitting and dignified manner... They made me say that...... They sent the trip off in fine fashion, I did not see them this morning, I am sure they will able to sleep on their journey back to the UK.
I made the decision to challenge myself just that little bit extra. My kind, cousin Franciou invited me to Brussels. So the next decision was how was going to get to Brussels. There are always options, as per usual I have chosen the hardest one..... To ride from Reims to Brussels or at least give it a go.
Pushing off early at 7.45, I thought I would get a good start, not knowing the terrain. As to be expected it took me over an hour to find the right road out of Reims. I planned to get 100 klms in, if I could. The mornings ride was in perfect conditions at least for an hour and a half, I was starting to feel confidant that this would be easy, being Sunday there were few people on the road, the passing scenery was picture perfect. The rest of the day shattered my confidence, I had headwinds and crosswinds, hills and of course some heavy rain. Next challenge came trying to buy lunch, being Sunday everything was closed not like Australia. Luckily I was able to find bakery in the morning and at 4.30pm.
The next issue was accommodation for the night, after Anthony's successes I thought it was going to be easy, at about 3.30 I found a magnificent hotel but thought I could get a bit more in before I find a Hotel for the night, big mistake!!
At 4.00 I was tired wet and hungry so, with my 100klms in the bag it was time to find lodgings for the night. I passed a few flee pits and thought I could do better. Stopped and asked several locals and finally at 135klms found a two star, the only Hotel in Avesnes sur Helpe. Should be easy nah, something in French could not understand, what it said, so there was a phone number, except it didn't have the country code for France. After agonizing if I should go on or try a little harder for another hotel "bird in the hand is worth two in the bush", I realized how tired and cold I was so I rang cousin Franciou to help me with the country code. Franciou came to the rescue again, with the much needed number.
Having had dinner and a long shower I am feeling much better about the world, having had another memorable day, well worth the effort. I hope tomorrow will not be as testing. Aim to get about 15 to 20 klms out of Brussels so that I have plenty of time to find Franciou's home.
Well that is it from Mark for today, hope the boy's get back to the UK in good time.
A special thanks to Nigel for lending me a map. He is very particular about his maps.
Mark is the pack, so I guess I have made it to the front of the pack.

40 km today.....The fatboys rode into Reims after some fantastic visits at champagne wineries in the heart of the Champagne region. We rode along side canals with pots of flowers on the bridges.  Every view was a picture, every bend in the road brought a picture post card &  we were always made to feel welcome & everyone showed such interest in our adventure. Ukraine, Poland, Czech republic, Germany & France was our playground & as I said at the start," at least we are not being shot at" unlike dad.      Dad actually went all the way to Paris in the jeep and was repatriated back to Glasgow, but the fatboys have commitments back home so we have to end it here.              As my tribute to my father draws to a close ,,Mum, I hope you have enjoyed reading .  I just want to thank the Fatboys, Antony, Nigel, Jon & guest Mark for allowing me to relive Woolf Blint's extraordinary experiences from 1940 to 1945, our mini trip was from L'vov to Reims 1800km by bike and railway was a very special experience. My Dad and I did many great things together over my lifetime on this glorious planet but this journey was by far the greatest..............Dad , when I grow up I want to be just like you ......Ron Blint

Last blast today

Our accommodation was great last night. Sylvian, the 5th generation proprietor warmed to us throughout the night  and by nights end he photocopied all the details of our trip to read later. He thought the photo of dad in the book was me! ' that's sick" was his comment in a heavy French accent. Our meal was special as usual , however, I must admit it was difficult going watching Ants face as he worked his way through a regional special..... Calves head!!!!! Yes!     He said , "the meat was fine but looking at it was the hard part." I agree. 
Today is our last day of this most interesting journey. Nigel & Ant had the maps out and will make it as interesting as possible no doubt. The rain has stopped, that's good. It has been very special riding a route of such distance and for the reason we have but it's been a totally unique experience blogging along the way . I have now read dads book.... By jeep to freedom ... A total of six times, and saw something different each time. He Was brave to do the journey but very smart to have recorded it.            To all our blog readers , I hope you have been entertained, & to all the contributors, a really heart felt special thank-you for adding another dimension to the experience. Every one has been entertaining. As Sylvian said last night "all things have an end..........except a sausage.......they have two ends".   More later. Ron

From the back of the pack.

The ride is drawing to an end. We had enough of the mad dash to get to Reims. So we decided to ride the last leg instead of taking the train. Once again it worked out well for us. We had lovely lunch in a most imposing town of Nancy a truly stunning town. Then a 2 hour train ride to the heart of the Campane district were we started to do the first riding in three days. We were all happy to be peddling along the cannals until the ominus black clouds appeared. We got in 25 klms before we had to call it a day. We found a place to stay and eat again. The food was up to the standard we have become acustomed to. I do not kn
ow how we will manage when we get home.
So another fine day ends on the Fatboy's 2010 ride. One day to go.

Bye from Mark.

Continued............

Cont....This stage of Dad's journey he was in his jeep and trying to make for Paris in order to repatriate back to Scotland, he was assisting an alleged priest to get out of Europe too. At Juvisy sur Orge ( just down the road from us) the jeep broke down. The priest went into town to get help and  a female mechanic came to their rescue on her bike. She cleaned the fuel filter and they were on their way again, but now they were three. Louisa and Dad were  about to become an item!? Dad driving, Louisa the front passenger & the priest in the back of the jeep with her bike. ............ Back to the fatboys, we jumped off the train at Chalons-en-Champange and started riding and I must say it was great to back on the bike again. Along the canals as the track narrowed until it was too narrow at all. Antony recalculated and made for a pub, we followed blindly........ Until the rain came down. Spending time in a villages only bus shelter we marveled at nature and all she offers . Cursing finished we belted towards Tours-sur-Marne where we found the only pub and accommodation in town. We accepted his price and settled in as the rain bucketed down outside. Total perfection ! Signing off for the night, Ron your roving reporter.