On Saturday the 19th of August, ten Muslim men were greeted in Madinah with an emotional, open armed welcome, after completing a grueling six weeks cycling across eight countries, to reach Madinah to perform Hajj.

The Hajj ride 2017, is a charity bike ride organised by Human Aid UK, which saw ten Muslim men cycle their way 3500 km across eight countries, with an end goal to reach the holy city of Madinah and perform Hajj, and to also raise £1,000,000 along the way, in aid of Syria and build  awareness of the need for medical equipment in Syria. Each of the ten riders have a different fundraising goal assigned to them, ranging from £100,000, £30,000 to £10,000. As well as raising money for a charitable cause, the Hajj riders wanted to revisit the early tradition of traveling to Hajj on land.

The Journey

Starting the first leg of their journey to New Haven, in East London on the 14th of July, they then took a ferry to France where they cycled to Paris.  From there on they traveled all the way through Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy, until they reached Venice where they took a ferry to Greece. Once they had cycled to Athens, they transferred over to Alexandria, Egypt.

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Although they experienced difficulties during their passage from Greece to Egypt, they managed to make their way out of Cairo towards the port town of Hugharda. They had to wait a while in order to obtain their Hajj visa, but eventually were able to fly in to Saudi Arabia, where they set off on the last leg of their journey to Madinah.

Upon their arrival in Madinah they were warmly greeted with drums, cheers, flower garlands and many awards and recognition for their efforts.

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They are still raising money to reach their target of £1,000,000 in aid of Syria – check out their website and consider donating here.