11:00 a.m.
Having arrived in London Stanstedt, Alex is on his way to rent the wicked camper which will accompany the bikers on their way up from Dover to London. It will hold their luggage, the group's food and some medical kits, as well a spare bike and have a space for injured cyclists so that everything should be taken care of.


12:00 a.m.
The camper is truly wicked. It contains two tents, five mattraces, as well as a small kitchen and a camping table, a gas-stove and some camping gear. But will it hold thirty people's luggage? We'll have to see. For the time being, getting used to left-lane traffic is the biggest worry and Alex is making his first careful turns and circles in inner city London traffic, looking for a large departement store where he can stock up on some food items for the tour.
1:00 p.m.
Michael Gnilo from the Philippines has just arrived in London. Alex is on his way down busy Marylebone Road after having stuffed the backpart of the van full with canned pasta sauce, rice, potatoes, fresh fruits, tea, coffee, milk, sugar, salt, vegetables and other staples. Once he's picked up Michael, the two of them will take care of the rest of last minute preparations before getting the bikes down to Dover tomorrow.


4:00 p.m.
Michael and Alex are battling their way through the city of London, dodging traffic cameras which have been set up at every intersection and looking for a hostel to spend the night


6:00 p.m.
Anna, Ursula and Ulrike from Germany pick up Maren from Cologne's main train station. Maren still had to work int he pediatric department of her hospital today, but now the four girls are on their way to Calais by car...


9:00 p.m.
Having checked into the Leinster Inn, Michael and Alex are on their way to pick up the St. Petersburg participants from Stanstedt airport, where they will arrive at


10:00 p.m.
The four German girls have just arrived in Calais and are looking forward to a night spend in the car... only a few more hours before their ferry to Dover will leave the French port....


11:00 p.m.
Alex and Michael are still on the road to Stanstedt - busy London traffic and a quick trip to the Westminster car pound when the camper got towed kept them from reaching the airport on time. The students from St. Petersburg don't seem to be receiving their text messages either, let's hope they wait...


11:50 p.m.
The three participants from St. Petersburg, Vilena, Tamara and Tea, have just arrived at Stanstedt - with no one around to pick them up, they decide to take the bus to London Victoria and start to make their way to Dover...





1:00 a.m.
Michael and Alex have just arrived at Stanstedt, only to find that the three girls they meant to pick up were not there anymore. After a couple of calls on the loudspeakers of the airport, they pack up their stuff and make their way back into London to get at least a few hours of sleep before starting the long journey...


2:45 a.m.
"Please step out of the car..." After only a day of driving on the left lane, Alex gets into his first police check. The woman is very nice, though, and lets the two tired guys continue on their way without pressing charges for slow driving ;)


3:15 a.m.
Alex and Michael reach the hostel and fall into a deep sleep until...


5:30 a.m.
...the the alarm clock rings and the two of them make their way to Go Pedal, where Simon Ford is waiting to help them deliver the thirty bikes down to Dover.


8:00 a.m.
After some harrowing hours of navigating through Londo rush-hour traffic, Alex and Michael finally reach Simon's place and start loading the bikes on the wicked camper. Kiran from Bath joins them. He's the only British student on the tour and has had the toughest job of organizing the trip so far.



9:00 a.m.
The first people start their journey across the English channel on a ferry from Calais. As they catch the first glimpse of Dover's famous white cliffs, the rain begins to pour...



10:00 a.m.
After the guys filled the van to the brink with bikes, helmets and locks, they start out towards Dover, where the first participants have already arrived and are awaiting further directions...


1:00 p.m.
The bikes have arrived in Dover! The first group of cylists have also made their way through the persisting rain and met up with the bike delivery boys at Dover's Priory station, where they begin to put together the bikes and try them out on the wet streets of Dover.



2:00 p.m.
As the first group of cyclists are slowly making their way along the ragged white cliffs of Dover towards the camp site, Alex, Michael, Vilena and Gerli are heading up to the site with the camper to start pitching the tents, cooking up some dinner and make a second dash to London in order to get the rest of the bikes.



5:00 p.m.
Alex has arrived back in London at Simon's place and has loaded up the camper with another batch of bikes. Thirty should be enough - as long as everyone that signed up makes it and there are no unforseen surprises... Another three hour ride and Alex is back down in Dover...



8:00 p.m.
Almost everyone has arrived at the campsite, which is beautifully located just near the white cliffs. As it is largely dry, people have started to make a bonfire near the cliffs while the kitchen crew is setting up dinner: a hearty meal of potatoes and fresh vegetables.



11:00 p.m.
Alex picks up Kiran and Alexa from the Dover train station - the two of them had stayed behind in order to guard the luggage and had spent the last few hours testing some British ales in the local pub. Back at the campsirte, they join the rest and hold the group's first general assembly, mainly used to chart out the route of the next day and give everyone a chance to introduce him- and herself.


11:58 p.m.
Alex picks up Ulrike from Berlin - the last of the cyclists to arrive. After a midnight-snack the two of them join the rest of the crew in the tents and fall asleep in anticipation of the next day's cycling. Let's hope it stays dry...




5:30 a.m.
Light rain begins to drip on the tents, slwoly starting to turn into torrents of water, whcih drench the cyclists tents. The Ukrainians wake up to discover that their tent is not as waterproof as they thought. Several of the cyclists find out what happens when you leave your shoes out for the night and almost everyone dreads the thought of having to cycle through this weather


6:00 a.m.
"Wake up everyone, hot coffee and buns are ready"... with this call to arms, Alex lures the participants out of their tents and into the dry field kitchen, where a lovingly prepared breakfast awaits them.


7:00 a.m.
Putting together the tents in the pouring rain and trying to find some dry clothes puts a sour note on everyone's first morning. But morale is good - there's hot water in the showers, the tea and coffee serve their purpose and there's even some German Nutella on the breakfast table.


8:00 a.m.
Water-proof pants and jackets are put on, the backpacks loaded up into the van (which can barely fit all of the luggage) and the first group makes its way along the cliffside towards Deal. Miraculously, the rain has ceased and there's even slight breaks within the cloud-cover.


9:00 a.m.
Everyone  is on their bikes now - with the camper loaded to the brink with luggage, food, tents, mattraces, wet clothes and slpeeing bags, there's hardly room for the two drivers, which head on to Sandwich, where they are to set up a tea-station for the arriving cyclists.




12:00 a.m
People start arriving in Sandwich, the home of stuffed bread. With Kiran and Gerli already waiting with tea, the decision is quickly taken to continue on to Canterbury and have a late lunch there.



1:30 p.m.
In three groups, the cyclists are making their way to Canterbury. As the weather gets better with the minute, they stop by the roadside to pick some blackberries, eat some beutifully ripe apples and ask for directions...



2:00 p.m.
The sun has come out! People start stripping off their rain coats and enjoy the beams of sunlight in their faces. Only a few more miles to go until we reach Canterbury...


 
3:00 p.m.
The first groups of people start drippling into Canterbury, famous for its cathedral and its medieval town walls. Outside of the east gate tower, the group sets up camp, starts preparing some sandwiches for the late-comers and chart the rest of day's journey.


5:30 p.m.
With most of the afternoon spent on convincing the local population to speak out against Trident Renewal, little time remains for the rest of the day's ride. Also, people are tired and want to rest in order to be fit enough for the long journey into central London the next day. The group therefore decides to shorten the route a bit by switching to the local train and making a dash towards Dartford.


6:00 p.m.
With groups of 10 cyclists to a train, the OTT crew slowly makes its way to Dartford, where Kiran and Michael have already taken the van in search of a suitable accomodation for the night.


7:30 p.m.
With everyone finally in Dartford, the choice of accomodation consists of a campsite roughly 9 miles outside of town or a budget hotel near the river. After some discussion, the group decides to book the hotel for the night. It is dark outside, people are tired from the long stretch of road behind them and some of them are sick, have a fever and do not feel like continuing today. Alex takes the first group of them towards the river, while others wait for the van to return and pick them and their bikes up from the station.


9:00 p.m.
As everyone arrives in the Hotel, the rooms are divided up and a plan for dinner is drawn up. Since the tea stop in Sandwich drained our gas supply, we have to resort to alternatives ways of cooking up our pasta - the water boilers in the room are of great service and soon everyone has gathered around the camping table set up on the hotel lawn for a round of good English cider and some stories of the day.

With only one minor accident and no casualties, the cyclists are happy to have the first long stretch of road behind them. Tomorrow will see the group make their way along the Thames into Greenwich where they will meet up with the local Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), which will then take the group into the city of London. But for tonight, all that remains to do is catch a few hours of good clean sleep...


23:30 p.m.
"Good night, Michael...", "Good night, Kiran...", "Good night, Alex...", "Good night everyone..."










7:00 a.m.
"Good morning, it is 7 a.m. and fresh baguettes have just come in..." Alex's soothing voice in the hotel telephone wakes the cyclists from their dreams. Freshly baked French bread, provided by the hotel and some much.loved staples like oat porridge, professionally cooked up by Dana, serve as a hero's breakfast to the half-awake cyclists, which still have a long stretch of cycle roads ahead of them today.


8:00 a.m.
Just in time, the cyclists take to their bikes again, while Kiran and some others start loading the luggage into the camper. Again it's a tight fit, but in the end, everyone's luggage seems to miraculously fit in the van. With dry socks and the sun shining on their heads, the bikers take off from the hotel's parking lot, as the last tents and mattraces are loaded into the camper.

1:00 p.m.
Just on time, the cyclists arrive in Greenwich, the centre of the world, so to say (at least in terms of mean time ;) and make their way to the site of the Cutty Sark - Britain's most famous ship, which is currently undergoing renovations after some vandals burned it this year. In front of the Cutty Sark, a group of local activists from the CND, Britain's famous abolitionist group, meet the group and celebrate their journey.



2:00 p.m.
Local media have arrived: some newspaper people and a radio interviewer. Alex, Michael and some others are asked to describe their trip. In the meantime, as some people go out for some great English Fish and Chips, others begin to unroll the Target and start engaging locals and tourists in dialogues on nuclear disarmament.




3:00 p.m.
As everyone has had a bite to eat and people are itching to make their way into central London, the participants gather around the Target one last time, then pack up their stuff and start to get going...



4:30 p.m.
The last stretch of their journey, the cyclists are beign led by local CND activists, who have mapped out the best route into the city of London. With their help, the two groups each pass by the Docklands, stop for a cool drink along the quay and eventually reach the perimeter of the city.



5:00 p.m.
Rolling over Tower Bridge and entering the City of London, the second group, led my Matt, a CND-activist and teacher, are a sight to behold and many people turn their heads in order to read the message on their shirts: "Treatment not Trident"



6:00 p.m.
As the cyclists arrive on Parliament Square, they are welcomed by Kiran and Gerli, who have already parked the van in a little alcove opposite of Westminster Abbey and have begun to collect everyone for a last group session.



6:30 p.m.
Beneath the constant ringing of the bells of Westminster Abbey, the cyclists bade farewell to each other and reviewed the past two days - what a glorious jounrey it had been. 15 of the group would go on to Faslane, Scotland in order to join the large blockade of Britain's nuclear submarine base there...


7:00 p.m.
While the first people leave the square, Dominik, Ulrike, Michael and Alex drive the camper to London City Airport in order to rent two more cars for the journey up to Faslane. In the meantime, Simon comes up the square in order to pick up the rest of the bikes and Alexa stays with the luggage until the cars arrive.


9:00 p.m.
The four drivers have arrived at City Airport and manage to book the last two cars. They fill up on gas and make their way to Victoria station, where the rest of the crew is waiting. Alex and Michael in the camper, Ulrike and Dominik taking one car each drive into the first circle traffic - and immediately lose Dominik. After he doesn't show up for some time, the two cars speed along the embankment...


11:30 p.m.
The drivers have all arrived at Victoria station - including Dominik, who fought his way through central London - without a navigator and without a map! They buy a few British phone cards, load up the cars and drive towards the northern highway... how long it will take to reach Scotland?



3:00 a.m.
The three cars arrive at a gas station near Birmingham. Each car has found ways to keep up the morale and to keep the driver from falling asleep. Especially successful: Tamar's and Alex's Russian-German singing contest in the camper... In the meantime, Sven and Michael stay awake by discussing politics and Dominik hands over the car to Ulrike, who was able to sleep for the past three hours (despite Alex's crooked voice singing German drinking song ;)


6:00 a.m.
The group has reached the Scottish border near Carlisle. Morale is high. Michael is being kept awake by Alexa, while Anna has taken over navigating in Ulrike's car. Alex has gone to singing for himself as the radio begins to crackle into Scottish accents.


9:00 a.m.
Glasgow! Finally... After 9 hours of through-the-night driving, the three cars have reached Glasgow. After a quick breakfast and a quick stroll around the cars, the final stretch of road until the naval base lies ahead.


10:00 a.m.
Driving past demonstrators chained to the street, police cordons and large groups of blockaders in front of the main gate of the base, the three cars have finally arrived at the parking lot, where they assemble and join the rest of the hundreds of demonstrators. The radio has been full of reports about the blockade. Now the IPPNW group is there.



12:00 a.m.
The group met up with Jack Piachaud and Lesley Morrison, two doctors of the British IPPNW affiliate MedAct, who had already been at the blockade of the base in January of this year. Together, they set up the Target and collected signatures for British MPs amongst the many demonstrators. While the crowd cheered, protesters were carried away by police one after the other. People sang, played music, danced and chanted. Priests, lawyers, doctors, clowns, people dressed like animals - the crowd was as colorful as it was innovative in its protests.


5:00 p.m.
The three cars have arrived at Loch Lomond, the famous Scottish lake just east of Faslane, where they splash into the fresh water to cool off from a day of protesting in the bright sun. Afterwards, Michael, Tamara, Dominik and Sandip take turns in cooking up some curry with rice - with some interesting results, as it rurns out that every country has its own recipe for making "fluffy" rice just right ;) Oh yes, we have gas again....



9:00 p.m.
After a refreshing dip in the lake and some good dinner, the group circles the Loch in search of a campsite. Alex and Anna had earlier explored the aread and found a nice campsite not far away. The group set up the tents, cooked up another can of tea and jointly finished Tamara's home-made Georgian wine.






7:00 a.m.
Emerging from the coldest night of the entire tour, the group awoke to find themselves surrounded by thick, dense, Scottish fog. A quick breakfast consisting of yet another portion of porridge and a few cups of tea and coffee and the group was off.



11:00 a.m.
First stop on the way back- we've reached the English-Scottish border...



1:00 p.m.
Having arrived in Lancaster, the group detoured a bit in order to have a fine portion of good English Fish&Chips



8:00  p.m.
The group has reached the Northern Circular Road in London. As Michael, Dominik and Ulrike speed towards City Airport in order to return the cars, Sven guides Alex through the evening streets of London towards Nunhead, where we have been offered free accomodation in an old church building while the rest of the group make their way through the city by public transport...



9:00 p.m.
The group has reached the church. Thre Portuguese and one Polish student have joined them there and together, they will sleep in the main hall of the abandoned church building during the time of the conference. For tonight, Tamara has cooked up some mighty spicy Georgian soup - which is not to everyone's taste (especially not to Tamaras or the Georgians). Sandip, Michael and Alex love it, though ;)






5:30 a.m.
"Everyone who wants to be at the conference on time: wake up now". Again it is Alex's coraky voice that wakes up the former bikers. As they prepare a bit of breakfast in the church kitchen, the others sleeping in the main hall try hard to turn around and continue their slumber


8:00 a.m.
The camper arrives at the Royal Society of Medicine with the first group of students who want to join the doctors for the scientific conference entitled "Nuclear Weapons - the Final Pandemic: Preventing Proliferation and Achieving Abolition".



9:00 a.m.
As the rest of the students start pouring in, the conference begins. Old friends are reunited, the bikers get a chance to talk about the tour and Maso Tomonaga, a distinguished physician from Japan opens the conference with a keynote address on the effects of the nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.