We met at St Pancras Station mid-morning on Day 1, Monday 13th September, where we had a briefing and lunch whilst being serenaded by the sounds of the Band of the Army Air Corps. The forerunners of this Corp formed the backbone of the 30,000 troops involved in the Arnhem assault 66 years ago. As the 200 of us headed for the Eurostar to Brussels we were sent on our way to the strains of Land of Hope and Glory, Rule Britannia and God Save the Queen. This was much to the amusement of the other passengers on the train.

In addition to the 200 riders, we were accompanied by 15 British wounded servicemen from Headley Court together with 15 wounded US servicemen from Texas. Along our route we were also to be joined by a total of seven veterans of the 1944 battle to liberate Antwerp and the battle for Arnhem. Although the veterans were to travel in the various support vehicles that accompanied us, the 30 wounded soldiers (all of whom had lost limbs in Afganistan or Iraq) were to cycle every mile of the route using specially adapted bikes. All these individuals, old and young, were to provide huge inspiration and were a great source of encouragement throughout the six days we were away.

We were awakened on Day 2 with an alarm call at 5.30am and amidst much moaning and a few sore heads we had breakfast before being taken from our hotel, by coach, to the British Embassy in Brussels. At this point in time I should tell you that I had taken a lucky mascot with me. He is a bear named Hero and, by the end of the trip, he became the mascot for the entire group. He was to accompany me pretty much all the time and was attached to the front of my bike whenever I rode.

At the British Embassy, we were met by the British Ambassador, Jonathan Brenton, (who was about half my age) and had a second breakfast. We also met General David Bill who is responsible for all British forces under NATO and it was he who set us on our way. From the British Embassy it was a ten minute walk to a square in central Brussels where our bikes awaited us. After photographs, we set off with about 20 police cyclists as escorts who remained with us for the first four or five miles of our journey until we were outside Brussels. Our first stop was Waterloo and the Butte du Lion - the statue that commemorates the Battle.

Here we were introduced to three guides (one of whom was Simon Vandeleur who is the first cousin four times removed of Major General Sir John Vandeleur, one of Wellington's Generals at Waterloo). They explained how the battle in 1815 had been won by the Duke of Wellington with his British and Dutch forces. These tours were followed by a high carb lunch, a wreath laying at the monument to the Allied forces and then a 40 mile ride to Leuven.

Leuven is a pretty town but its main claim to fame is the fact that it is home to Stella Artois! In a moment of sheer brilliance, someone at Help for Heroes had thoughtfully booked us into a hotel less than 100 metres from the brewery! Both Hero and I indulged and we were certainly not alone. After having ridden some 60 miles that day, bed was then a welcome respite.

Day 3 involved cycling a further 60 miles to Antwerp. On the way we were to stop at Breendonk Concentration Camp. This does not feature in the tourist guides to Belgium and it is not difficult to see why. It is a remarkably well preserved old stone fort, built on an island, and was used by the Germans and their Nazi Belgium sympathisers primarily as a place to hold and torture Belgium and Dutch Resistance fighters. I shall not dwell on the details, suffice to say it was a grim experience to visit my first concentration camp. We laid a wreath at the wall in front of which 167 named resistance fighters had been shot (many more died of torture, starvation and harsh treatment). It was very moving and brought home to us exactly what the Allied nations were fighting for in 1939-45. After lunch just outside the camp, we headed to Antwerp for a reception and wreath laying at Antwerp Castle where we were joined by three veterans from the Liberation of Antwerp. We heard their stories and how the Allies lost nearly 13,000 men in the battle to take this City. 

Opening my curtains on Day 4, I was greeted with the sight of torrential rain. After breakfast we were given a briefing with the final words, "stick to the cycle lanes wherever possible and avoid the tram tracks". I listened but I obviously did not hear!   Less than ten minutes into the ride I caught my front tyre in a tram line and together Hero and I crashed onto the ground. Despite bruising my hip and drawing blood from my elbow it was not the pain that most hurt, but my pride. I had fallen down in front of at least 40 other riders. Some ten minutes later, as we were riding thorough the pouring rain, I heard two fellow cyclists behind me having a conversation and one of them asked the other, "Did you see that guy go down in the tram lines?" I kept my head down and continued cycling. Fortunately the rain eased off and when eventually I reached the first water stop of the day, approximately two hours after leaving the hotel, I felt a bit of a wimp asking the Doctor for antiseptic wipes knowing that there were men without limbs amongst us. It was whilst at the water stop that I discovered that I was one of six who fell off their bikes on the wet tram lines. Moving on, we stopped at the German Military Cemetery in Lommel which is the largest German cemetery in Europe with more than 39,000 soldiers buried here. Despite the torrential rain, about 60 of us decided to take a 25 mile detour to Klein Brogel Airbase to greet two veterans of Operation Market Garden who were arriving on a 1944 Dakota - one that was actually used to drop paratroopers into Arnhem. Whilst at the airbase, the Commander laid on an impressive aerial display launching four F16 fighters in a mock scrambling exercise. One of our number calculated that the fuel used to launch these aircraft would cost about $18,000. This probably explains why we were charged 50c each for coffee! The two veterans were to accompany us for the rest of the journey.

Our next stop was Joe's Bridge on the Mass-Scheldt Canal in Lommel, which was the starting point for Operation Market Garden in 1944. This bridge was taken by the Irish Guards on 10th September 1944 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel J.O.E. Vandeleur (the father of one of our guides). From here we were to follow the route taken by the Allied forces as they tried to take six bridges, in five days, on the route to Arnhem and the Rhine. It is worth pointing out that five were captured and only the last, at Arnhem, was not.  With the failure to take the crucial bridge over the Rhine, all hope of finishing the war by Christmas 1944 was lost. In the afternoon, we crossed into the Netherlands and stopped at the Valkenswaard War Cemetery. The village of Valkenswaard was the first to be liberated on the main line of the British advance into Holland in September 1944. All the 220 men buried here are British.  

On Day 5, we continued from Eindhoven following the Allied route with a focus on the US element of the operation as this was the route taken by the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division whose role it was to secure the highway and its bridges which linked Eindhoven to Nijmegen. The first stop was a wreath laying at the Son Bridge which was very moving, being in the presence of so many injured American troops. We were then back on our bikes heading to Leunen via the Venray and Overloon British Cemeteries. It was at the latter of these cemetery's that one of our veterans found the graves of some of his comrades whom he had fought alongside in 1944. It was the first time he had been able to visit them and it was exceptional emotional for us all.

We spent the night in Nijmegen having cycled over 90 miles during the day, most of it in the rain.

Today was Day 6, and the last day of our cycling - just 40 miles to Arnhem. It was an early start with alarm calls at 5.30am and a departure from the hotel at 6.15am. It was a busy day starting with a wreath laying at the monument to the 82nd Airborne Division followed by another to the Royal Engineers. Just as the service finished, the heavens opened and the final five miles to Arnhem Bridge were completed in pouring rain. After pictures and a "thank you" from the British Ambassador to the Netherlands, we cycled about eight miles to the field in which the gliders and troops landed in 1944 - too far from the bridge to take it. Today was the 66th Anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem and we were joined on the heath by hundreds of British and American veterans, along with several thousand Dutchmen and their families. The sun burst through the clouds as the first of 700 British, Dutch and American paratroopers were dropped onto the heath. It was a spectacular annual event and was followed by a service of thanksgiving in Dutch and English.

The next day was Sunday and before we caught our coaches for the three hour ride back to Brussels and the Eurostar, we went to the Airborne Cemetery for the official annual wreath laying ceremony. Several thousand people were there from the Netherlands, Britain and America. It was here that one of the most moving events of the week took place. Half-way through the service, hundreds of schoolchildren, all carrying flowers, entered the cemetery and each stood before the grave of a fallen hero. Then, in silence, they laid their flowers in front of the headstone before standing with bowed heads. There was not a dry eye in the place.  

Time was not on our side and we had to leave before the end of the service. As "our" seven veterans stood to leave and as the wounded Headley Court guys joined them, there was spontaneous applause from the thousands present. It started as a ripple and grew as everyone stood in honour. A very moving end, to a very humbling week.

It's difficult to describe the various emotions that I experienced during the six days I was away, but I feel privileged to have taken part and the memories will always be with me.

I hope you will take a look at my pictures from the ride on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=92126&id=1178173379&l=b09cff06f7

I have also set up a special album of photos of Hero on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=92672&id=1178173379&l=77bf062544

Chris