On Thursday 29th July at 3.30pm we finally rolled into John O'Groats after over 900 miles on the road. Thanks for all the donations, the total amount raised was £1,500.
Dave
My brother Chris and I decided last year to cycle from one end of the UK to the other this summer. The initial plan involved cycling 90 miles per day over a 10 day trip. Neither of us has cycled anything like this, I have done a few longish cycling tours in the past, nothing like this distance though (although I did always carry my own tent, spares, tools, cooking equipment etc). Chris has experience of ultra-marathon running in the desert and Channel swimming but nothing close to this in terms of cycling. Our parents will be providing back up and towing the support caravan, which as well as providing a whole lot of support and helping us rest also means we can keep the weight on the bikes down a bit by not having to carry all of our equipment and spares.
Recently when we sat down to finalise the dates we found out that due to other commitments we were left with only 9 days to complete the ride. So when we set off on the morning of Wednesday 21st July from Land's End we will need to average 100 miles per day to make it to John O'Groats on Thursday 29th July.
The charity I am raising money for on this trip is Autism Jersey, the local charity raising money to support local people with autistic spectrum disorders. My youngest cousin, Owen, suffers from autism and although it remains a huge barrier to a lot of things for him, the help he has had from the authorities and organisations in Scotland has really improved his life. As a young child the effects of his autism were probably hardest on his parents, but now as he reaches his mid-teens the difficulties and confusion caused by being "different" from his peers will start to have a much bigger impact on him than before. Owen also likes cycling and has raised money doing sponsored cycling events in the past. All of our family are really proud of Owen and also his mum and dad, Hugh and Irene, who have worked so hard to give him a good life. I hope any money we raise can help others like Owen and his parents.
As an aside I am also planning to read a relevant book during the trip which has been recommended to me but I've not yet got round to reading. It is called Born on a Blue Day and is a first-person account of living with a form of autism by Daniel Tammet.
