This morning we were joined by the much-awaited celebrity: Joanna Jablczynska. She cycled with us for the whole day, keeping up with the team and impressing us all with her cycling ability. We retraced the last part of yesterday's route through the hills into Elblag, where we were greeted by a surprise: a car park full of Lycra. It seems that Polish cyclists have no limit, with a huge variety on offer, though some should never ever be repeated. Ever.

Joined by 'somewhere between fifty and one hundred' cyclists from local cycling clubs, we set off from Elblag and pushed on to Gdansk. As a 'rolling roadblock' we seemed to annoy many passing cars, though of course their vigorous beeping of car horns could have just been their way of saying 'hello, you amazing cyclists.' At the 80km mark we left most of these cyclists behind so that they could take their swimming trunk/Lycra combinations to the nearby beach, but of course we didn't leave before being presented with some very fetching 'Elblag cycling club' badges.

The stretch into Gdansk involved many a river crossing, including one ferry crossing, which was a novelty. Shortly after we were met by volunteers from the Gdansk hospice who escorted us into town. By now most of us were used to the fame and glory of cycling quite a long way, but random photographers holding up motorway traffic just to snap a few photos of us was quite new. Aside from a short stretch pushing the bikes over the unavoidable stretch of cobbles, we finished the 1000 (and a bit, the bike computers dispute how far) in style, with a sprint finish up the sadly uncobbled hill to the hospice. Killer and Stu led the charge, followed by the 'Fujitsu Boys' and even Anita overtook some people. Though a few people were left at the lights before the finish, we all made it safe and sound and extremely proud of ourselves.

We received a fantastic welcome at the Gdansk hospice, complete with finishing line and masses of Polish sausages.

Following a night spent in the ‘Zamek Gniew’ (Castle), which was made even more impressive by the appearance of the finalists of the regional ‘Miss Poland’ contest, we set off promptly at a-bit-after-eight a.m leaving the beauties asleep in the hotel. As the ferry across the Wisla wasn’t running due to an excessive amount of river, we took a detour, passing over a bridge by the stunning Malbork Castle (there are lots of castles in Poland…).

A quick stop for food in the traditional Polish Tesco and we were back on our way to Elblag, our hospice stop for the day, 80km along the route. We were greeted by a (small) cheering crowd and plentiful food, including both savoury and sweet pancakes and a barbecue. This was, as always, declared “the best food we’ve ever had.” It was.

After we had filled ourselves almost to bursting point with food, we had the ritual photo session, followed by a presentation of medals thanking us for our efforts. We toured the hospice and visited the new rehabilitation room provided by the Foundation, then retired to the hospice garden for a game of Frisbee.

Once we were all fed, watered and rested, we set off on our final 40km stretch to the famed ‘Big Dog.’ However, as Elblag is one of the lowest points in Poland, this involved several hill climbs and one puncture/explosion. Eventually we arrived, having nearly run over several chickens on the way. (No animals were harmed in the process.) We were greeted by the undeniably massive St. Bernard and an equally ‘friendly’ Golden Retriever; these proved popular with the children staying at the hotel. Finally, off for a ‘recovery beer’, which caused Alex to turn into Gollum, an ice-cold shower before dinner, and several discussions about the cycling ability of the celebrity who will be joining us tomorrow… will Stu and Arek find some competition at last? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

- Anita

Departing from Torun, Cycle Poland enjoyed a later start today. For some of the party this meant an opportunity to enjoy the highlights of the UNESCO city, for others a chance to recover as best they could from the previous night's excesses. Highlights of the night included the light and fountain show where Emily unsuccessfully attempted to dodge the water and a visit Polish karaoke bar. We said goodbye to Chris... by welcoming his replacement, Andy Wood, and instantly forgetting that Chris was ever with us and leaving his bike at the hotel. (Before he has an apoplectic fit - the bike is now with us.) The weather held throughout the day and provided perfect conditions for a 130km ride into Gniew.

Taking advantage of a day without a visit to a hospice, CP had an extended lunch break at a Polish bistro. With everyone keen to maintain high energy levels, all riders ordered big. It is dangerous to allow such inexperienced visitors to Poland to go off piste from hostel cuisine and it so it was proved. Jez, Kuba and Anita ordered the 'pizza' which bore more than a little resemblance to bread with an array of toppings. It was a small feat that Kuba and Anita ate more than half but Jez didn't enjoy the experience at all and stood down after eating just one slice. Kuba took home the award for biggest eater and we left for the final 40km fully fuelled for the high octane finish.

With Killer leading the charge closely followed by the favourites for the spinter's green jersey the peleton pressed towards the finish. The countryside was breathtaking but not as much as the pace of 40km/hour that the leaders were pushing at the front. Some understandably couldn't handle the pressure and were dropped and for those that could keep up they resorted to desperately clinging to the wheel in front of them. In the end Killer led Marcin and Stu home and we arrived at the Castle in Gniew, our stay for the night. The hotel and surrounding impressed us all especially as Miss Poland 2011 was being hosted at the venue. The riders were disappointed when they were not invited to join the event but they did show off their fetching lycra to the contestants. 

The fine weather continued, after a minor thunder storm. The first signs of lightning were noticed over breakfast, prompting discussion of waterproofing strategies. The first raindrops were felt whilst loading the van, so we opted for a brief delay to the scheduled departure time, to "wait out the shower". This wasn't hugely successful: a brief lull in the weather lured us onto the road in time for the main event. Torrential rain followed. The usual excitements of giant-lorry-dodging were given an extra frisson by the tidal waves unleashed when they hit the puddles. The various waterproofing strategies were each in their own way inadequate to the task, though your correspondent's favourite was the fetching red-riding hood inspired outfit, designer unknown, sported by Damien.

The rain did eventually stop, and the sun returned. The drying out process was assisted by a relentless headwind, making for fairly hard going. The team managed pretty good pace nonetheless, stopping for lunch in Nieszawa and, despite simultaneous punctures from Andrew and Alex,  arriving on time for the scheduled hospice stop. The biscuits and coffee were very welcome, as were the fresh plums. The hospice itself dealt mainly with children, seeming to fulfil various functions from palliative care to post-operative rehab and orphanage.  The whole operation seemed to result from the efforts of one couple, the husband responsible for the bulk of the building work and the wife coordinating the administrative side. Despite the money worries that seem to dog the majority of these institutions, they seemed to be proud and happy to have achieved so much with what the funds they had.

Everyone was excited to be in a town for the evening, so excited in fact that the evening in Torun stretched, for some long into the night, with more than one "recovery beer".

A good steady day clocking up the kilometres. We have settled into the routine and have done over 500km now. Weather conditions good-still hot but more cloudy with a breezy hour after lunch. Good for the cycling but less good for the comedy shorts/gloves/watch tan lines everyone is working on.The pace was fairly even at around 25km per hour and Killer and the Polish crew as always add a professional touch to the city sections of the ride with slick traffic control on some of the junctions (holding the cars lets the group all pass as a unit).  The hospice visit today was at Wloclawek, which is a relatively large hospice and helps disabled and orphaned children as well as adult patients. We said goodbye to the three riders from Lichen Stary who had joined us for today's leg.  

The writer (Emily today) carried out an ipod swap with Andrew, receiving some lively drum n bass. In a desperate bid to gain a competitive edge I passed him a sleepy ambient playlist. It failed as a tactic as it didn't seem to slow him down at all, but at least I got to listen to some good race tunes. 

Accommodation is at a relatively remote farm stay and the day finished with a thrilling 2km sprint for the farm. The main contenders were looking at each other nervously from the start of the farm road, with Ewa lighting the blue touch paper with an ambitious early bid slotting in between Pawel and Arek/Killer. Pawel was first to respond, chasing Ewa down over the next 500 metres while Jez, Andrew, Chris and Alex followed. The valiant early attacks ultimately failed, leaving the group chasing down the to the finishing line for a bunch sprint. Unexpected sand traps put paid to the chances of Chris and Ewa, while Stu made a late move and put himself into contention. Some dubious tactics from the Fujitsu train looked to have finished Stu's chances, but he made a second kick and left Jez and Andrew to ruminate about their failures while he crossed the line victorious. Showers and recovery beers all round with some post race analysis followed.

Leaving our polish 'Centre Parks' style hotel after a hearty breakfast we then flew down the open road covering our first 60km before lunch. Stopping for a brief snack of Kabanos and rolls on the edge of Lodz we headed into the centre to reach our first destination, Fujitsu's Polish office. 

The trip to the Fujitsu office was part of the reason we'd been accompanied by two of the office's employees who carefully guided us through the various ring roads of lodz and criss-crossing tram lines to the new office complex. While the first reaction of the Fujitsu security guard, in keeping with his UK counterparts,  was to immediately ask us not lean our bikes against the wall and to take them round the back the remainder of the trip was a real success including meeting the office manager and a number of the team.

A very warm welcome was provided by the members of the Lodz hospice an hour later who showering us with gifts associated with the local area and tasty lunch looked after us with genuine warmth. An impromptu Q & A session with the hospice staff gave us a much better appreciation of the work the hospice performed in the local area and the challenges currently faced; above all setting up a local residential wing. Having discussed at length the hospice's plans and the work of the individual volunteers we set off accompanied by a number of the hospice staff to our hotel in the north of the city. Despite the multiple traffic lights we encountered leaving the city we arrived at our hotel in time for a cool shower and Zywiec before dinner.        



         

Day 3 of Cycle Poland began easily enough, before James decided to put the hammer down and leave us all for dust after about 5km. Some of us tried to follow, and the rest of the morning was characterised by exhaustingly trying to keep people's wheels while the cheeky types attacked the main group on the ascents. Fortunately, by the time we reached Czestochowa for our hospice visit of the day,  things had settled down as the average speed slowed considerably as we incompetently tried to reach our interim destination. The hospice visit itself was an illuminating insight into the daily work of staff and volunteers and the challenges they face, as we were taken on a tour of the residential care wards.

The hospice staff kindly took us to see the sights of Czestochowa including the finish line of a stage of this year's Tour de Pologne and a big monastery (while the more media friendly of us dealt with various press engagements), before we continued our 57km run in to Dobroszyce. The evening ended with some friendly exchanges with our Polish colleagues on the relative merits of putting peas on pizza.  

- Chris

Day 2 and another blisteringly hot day with a 110km cycle through the Polish country side. We took a shortcut this morning by crossing the border of the Czech Republic for a whole 200km. We have to keep reminding ourselves to stretch because when we get off the bikes the first thing we want to do is find the nearest place to cool down with any available water or lie down in the shade.

We stopped for a late lunch at the Hospice in Chorzow, who kindly fed and watered us. We were also very pleased to hand over six mattresses that the Foundation has bought from some of the sponsorship. It’s great to see the ride already having a positive impact when we haven’t even reached the finish line yet. 

We’ve said good bye to Asia, Marcin, Ela, and Ewa who joined us for the first 2 days, and although we’ll miss them riding with us, there are still at least 20 riders left in the group raring to go tomorrow.

After an eventful trip to the airport, we arrived at our hotel at 2am. Up at 6am to put together bikes, and on to our first hospice, Hospicjum Sw Kamila, for an amazing breakfast with the volunteers and staff of the domestic hospice. A tour of the building work for the new residential hospice, before a fantastic send off from the local shopping mall - a troupe of dancers, a brass band, TV and radio, and one or two hundred people who joined us for the first part of the day. We all did our climb to a pass above the ski resort (no one walked) and a great ride down -didn't pedal once for 5km. Then a motorbike and a rally car escort into Cieszyn, where we had dinner with the volunteers from the local hospice. We met the family of the lady who was the first to use the equipment donated by the Foundation, who said that this was the thing that made it possible for them to care for her at home and make sure she was comfortable. Very moving and humbling indeed.

We've packed up our bikes and loaded them into a van kindly provided by ATS Transport - thank you for your support ATS!

The bikes have arrived in Poland, and we fly tomorrow to join them!