Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
As you probably know by now, I have been on a retirement holiday for myself which involved trying to reach the highest point on each of 60 west coast Scottish islands, using a bike and flat feet only (oh, and the occasional ferry). Given the never-ending list of possible hurdles (weather, cancelled ferries, broken bike, broken body, broken spirit) you may think that this whole thing was wildly optimistic; not the sort of thing that an overweight 60-yr old (who hasn't been on a bike for 20 years before January) should be doing, perhaps. However, taking inspiration from the marathon man himself, Eddie Izzard, and the Sports Relief team, I always believed I could do it.
After eight weeks, I can now report success. The schedule has been completed - I have visited 60 islands and reached the highest point on 57 of them (including two Munros, Sgurr Alasdair on Skye and Ben More on Mull). The failures were due to weather, tidal window uncertainty and nesting choughs!
And, it gave me extra impetus, in my darkest moments (such as cycling for hours across flat uncompromising peat-bogs in the rain), to know that the trip was doing something useful, as well as being generally enjoyable, and so raising some dosh for the RNLI was good. I've chosen the RNLI because it is still a voluntary organisation with huge commitments made by those heroes who go out in all weathers to help others, and one which is very important to coastal communities, especially in the Scottish islands.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now. Many thanks.
