09/02/2025
Simon John is on another long trek to fight Human Trafficking. Follow his journey and see his gorgeous photography of the French Pyrenes
This summer at the second attempt, I finally made it over the last 500 miles to Lourdes in the French Pyrenees on my bike. I have added some anecdotes and photos below.
My aim was to finish what I started from Norfolk, England two years ago and again to raise awareness of trafficking and modern slavery, and raise funds for an heroic organization fighting it.
US based not for profit Voices4Freedom has in 9 years worked with local people to set free 38 entire villages in NW India.That has freed around 6,000 souls out of descent based slavery. At their schools, children are taught the 3 Rs and everyone learns how to use the legal system to fight their slave owners and free themselves and their offspring forever. No more children will be born into slavery in these villages. And freed villagers then join other freed villages to spread the lessons they’ve learned to help bring more communities to freedom.
As Frederick Douglass put it "knowledge unfits a man to be a slave". And of course just like all of our children did, they come home and teach their parents. It is so simple yet highly effective.
This time my prospects of success on the bike were enhanced by the fact that I was ably supported by a friend with a campervan. A problem was the heatwave pushing temperatures through 100 f.
Please consider giving to this worthy 401c cause and become a modern abolitionist giving people back their agency and freedom. You can truly set the downtrodden free.
The link to donate to this Voices4Freedom project is here https://funraise4freedom.funraise.org/fundraiser/simon-john
For your amusement, (although at the time, not always entirely to mine) below are photos of two of the places to which a quirk of my biking satnav sent me; and below those a sublime view along the Issigny river in St Germain de Confolens in Charente.
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Parts of the journey were challenging: the wrong turns leading to cart tracks and hilltop dead ends, the absence of cafes or even resting places, the seemingly endless steep hills and above all the searing heat. I think this caused heatstroke on a couple of occasions, once causing me to misjudge some French road furniture and come down, knees scraping the road surface for a while. Hospital "Urgence" soon fixed me up and I was on my way again the next day.
But these tribulations were as nothing when compared to the daily suffering of the enslaved. What is more, they don't have the upsides that we enjoy. That our lives are full of ups and downs is a real blessing.
As my grandson was later to observe I certainly eat well for my troubles! If not in France then where? I seemed to eat like a horse and yet 10 days after the ride ended had still lost more than half a stone. The ride was full of dense woodlands, pretty hidden rustic lanes, field after field of sunflowers and the vineyards of Cognac. There were expansive views of lovely rivers, The Loire, Issigny, Vienne, Lot, Dordogne, Tarn, Garonne and Gave.
Some of the place names were unforgettable including Castelmoron sur Lot where I enjoyed a morning coffee and sheltered from about the only downpour I can remember.
I cycled through picturesque medieval villages, past joyous weddings and peaceful churchyards. This is still a much softer France than the North. And every uphill climb has its reward: the downhill dash - at one point I recorded 42mph. On one day my son and grandson joined me in Bergerac and we had a good ride together before an excellent late lunch.
It was satisfying to have completed this pilgrimage after being hit by a bus halfway last time. On balance, I think you may not be troubled again by me to support such a venture.
Best wishes Simon
