Earlier this year two awesome adventurers Zoe and Tim went on an epic cycle ride, following the refugee trail for 2,158 miles, over 70 days, through 12 countries and raising a whopping £669 for our Earn-a-Bike programmes. It’s a huge THANK YOU to Zoe and Tim from everyone at The Bristol Bike Project for supporting us in style… 🙂

Now they are back home and settling into Bristol life, Zoe wrote one final blog for us about their experience of the Hungarian border where the realities of the ongoing refugee crisis really hit home… 

It’s been over a month since we got home from our trip and it’s mad how quickly it’s all become a distant memory. When people ask for the highlights the first thing that always comes to mind is how lovely people were to us all along the way – friendly waves from villagers, warm welcoming hosts, encouragement from travellers, friendly beeps and waves from drivers and even a joke and a smile from the border guards. And this always reminds us how one day of our travels really made us think.

Along Hungary’s border with Serbia and Croatia, Hungarian soldiers watched the borderland fields searching for people trying to cross. The borders are closed to refugees so the only route is through the heavily fortified nomans land. It was very sobering, especially when the soldiers holding their huge guns gave us cheery waves. We couldn’t help but think how different their reception would be under other circumstances. This really highlighted how the refugee crisis is ongoing (even if it isn’t in the news every day), the lengths some people go to for the safety of their families and how terrifying it would be to come across those border guards under different circumstances.

Looking back I also still can’t believe how far you can go on a bike! The last day of August was the last day our fundraising page is open for donations, but if you’d still like to donate and read about the wonderful work The Bristol Bike Project do with refugees and other marginalised people in our community, please visit their supporters page at https://localgiving.org/charity/thebristolbikeproject/