UniCycle50's Story in Photos People 2011 Back UniCycle50's Story in Photos People 2011 Back ITV's Paul, who filmed my departure from home on the Isle of Man at the end of March. Aunt Rita, cousin Danielle, her husband Paul and two of their four munchkins in Blackburn, my first night's stay. Yet another Paul, BBC Northampton's, who interviewed me on my way through the Midlands. In early April, I visited OU HQ in Milton Keynes. This is Robyn, Queen of Platform, the Open University's community web site, one of the places where I blog the trip. On my ride from Milton Keynes to London I had company: The Blood Pressure Association's Mark, and OU students Annie and Fenella (with trademark two finger salute). It was Fenella who came up with the UniCycle name, by the way. This trip has often been about the kindness of strangers. Georgie (second from left) got in touch when she read about tent problems I was having. I ended up sleeping at her Southsea home before the ferry to the Channel Islands. Sarah, centre, is my cousin, but I hadn't seen her for about twenty years. She lives in a village not a million miles from Paris. Her husband, Cyril, cooked me andouillette, a sausage that's not for the faint-hearted. In Paris, I met Egyptian Kareem and Welsh Dewey at a polyglot event. A chance to practise foreign languages or an opportunity for expats to speak English? You decide. Not far from the Champagne region of France, I met Andrew, a man with a plan - to get his electric bike from Norfolk to Sicily - although with no actual maps. Joëlle and Joris, a super-friendly Dutch couple, with whom I shared a gite near the Luxembourg border. They were cycling their way to Timbuktu. I've no idea if they got there. Their blog stops in May when they were somewhere in Spain. I hope they're both alright. In early May I arrived in Brussels, a city where the cheapest bed was €200 because of an international fish festival. OU student Jo (left) and her living room floor came to the rescue. She also showed me some great bars. This photo was taken the next day when we met Mike, a serial OU degree taker, and I ate a giant plateful of raw mince. Despite looking like a couple of bruisers in this photo, Ferienland and Reinhilda are a fun German couple who hijacked me at a Wolfsburg campsite and plied me with tea and far too many cakes. The Lovely Nina and I spent a wonderful week in Berlin. Towards the end of May, I hit Prague, a truly amazing city. This is Jamie, blues guitarist and singer and all-round smashing chap. Still in Prague I popped into the OU office and met Jana and Lucie. They took me out for beer, dumplings and laughs. Sasha was my Prague tour guide, taking me to the museum for some Czech history, a very popular ice cream joint and a lovely, little park, places I'd never have seen without her. Next to Brno, the Czech Republic's second city and home to Cat, a fellow Lancastrian, and Ed, both Oxford Czech language graduates. Cat allowed me to watch her bust some moves during a folk dancing session, a truly bizarre evening. It was only a short hop to Bratislava, the Slovakian capital, and a visit to another OU office and Katarina. A day's ride from Bratislava is Vienna, the location of my planetary science exam in mid-June. Here are OU Austria staff, Austrian Alexandra and Canadian Sarah, enjoying a breakfast with me the following day. From Vienna to Graz, my home for five years back in the late 90s and still host to many friends. This is Nem and Nige, who sourced me bizarre flavours of chocolate despite Fish Chocolate being out of stock. Jo pulls a face... ...and so does Pete. Oliver was my business partner for several years. Christian Payne aka Documentally came to Graz to interview me and take some photos. Unfortunately, I didn't return the favour. This is the only one of him I have. Still, the liver dumpling soup was very good. Damien, bloke of Jo (from four photos ago) cycled out of Graz with me on my way towards Liechtenstein. We got lucky when the town where we stopped for lunch was having a party, and then the one at the end of the same day was in the middle of its Stadtfest. It'll all end in beers. Halfway through Austria I met a German couple cycling in the opposite direction. It just shows that if you keep it up there's no age limit for this kind of thing. By the end of June, I'd reached Kitzbühl and the home of OU student Louise (left) and good friend Claudia (bottom right). Early July saw me in Switzerland. OU veterans Elli, Pädi and family met me in Buchs and cycled back to their place with me where they fed me marmots and donkey milk and looked after my bike while I flew back to the UK for a week. The OU's mathematical modelling residential MSXR209 was a really amazing week with an instant bunch of new mates. Here we have Adele, me (it's the sunglasses-as-headband that makes it look like a mullet - honest!), Don, Chris, Sonya and super-smart Sarah. Adele and Sarah are piss-takingly posing in the manner I'd adopted for an earlier photo. Back on the bike, out of Switzerland and back into France. This is Julian, a former traveller, horseman and extremely chatty Frenchman. Still in France, I bumped into two Spanish cyclists, Rafa and Luis, as they cycled from Trieste back to Rafa's farm near Zaragoza. Not far from Andorra, Paul, a woodwork teacher from the Midlands, was doing more or less the same tour as I was, but he had a little help from his motorcycle. By early August I was in beautiful Andorra and met the wonderful Clare, sailor, writer, hospital volunteer and a lady with more stories than the Arabian Nights. Not a person but closely related. In early September I met several monkeys in Gibraltar. It was all fun and games until this one started tearing apart my gear. On my last day's cycling, good mate Boz rode the final leg with me, a day that descended into liver abuse and memory loss... ...and here's Mrs Boz otherwise known as Polly. As soon as the ride finished I was off to Majorca for my second OU residential. This time it was SXR208 and astronomy, lots of fun messing about with telescopes. This was my project team: Peter, me, Graham, Kate and Alaine. The black 'n' white photo doesn't do justice to Alaine's incredible rainbow hair. It was a work of art... ...and on the last night there was a student-organised beach party, a fitting end to a superb six months of travel.                   ------------->