The start of the trip was delayed due to climate protestors invading the runway for an hour at Frankfurt Airport. This led to over 190 flights being cancelled including our connecting flights to Copenhagen. We spent 12 hours at Frankfurt airport before being transferred to a local hotel at midnight. 64 passengers were then flown early in the morning to Billund in Denmark, 165 miles from our destination. This one flight made everything feasible since the airline provided a larger aircraft so that more than half the group could travel. Our remaining passengers arrived over the following 24 hours. As if this were not enough, our suitcases arrived at various times and various airports over the following three days, meaning that quite a few people had to buy essential cycling kit such as shirts, shoes and of course helmets.
Once we had finally started the tour, everyone enjoyed the scenery, the beautiful towns
and cities, and the challenge of the cycling. Some pupils including some in the Shells and Removes managed to cycle 100 miles in a single day which is a significant achievement. The weather was lovely with no rain and relatively light winds, an important consideration for cyclists!
We spent two nights in the beautiful German city of Lübeck, and we enjoyed riding the final few miles into Berlin, passing famous landmarks including the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall. Highlights of the trip included the Bear Sanctuary near Müritz and visiting the many resorts along the Baltic coast.
Our return to the UK was delayed again, this time only by a couple of hours due to storms, with a frantic race through Frankfurt airport for half the group to catch their connecting flight which the airline specially held for us on the tarmac.
Mr Boardman
