Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Firstly:

I'm cycling from Lands End to John O Groats to raise money for the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.  I will be cycling with my best  friend Caroline Weaver from High Wycombe. I always said I would do this trip again at 50, and 30 years on from the last time, here I go!

The funny fact of this story is that I'm doing this on the very same model of bike from 30 years ago. My original Raleigh 'Wisp' that l used then, was  later stolen in London and for my 50th , my twin brother' Thomas, found me another 'Wisp' on eBay! So it has to be done.

I have always loved hedgehogs, the rate they are declining is alarming.  My two children, Hollie aged 10 and Daisy 17,  have never  even seen a live hedgehog in the wild, I want to help address this sad situation. 

UPDATE!!!

Two weeks have whizzed by and I have successfully completed what I set out to do except the majority of the time was sadly without my best friend Caroline who suffered a knee injury whilst still cycling through Scotland. The trip has presented me with many new challenges and experiences, some good , some bad but all in the name of 'charactor building'.

I changed the direction of the journey so each day would seem more like coming home. So started in John O Groats instead.

My last day was rather eventful, not only with the torrential rain but I had my first puncture within the first half hour of setting off, not an hour more had passed when I fell off my bike.  Hoping that not too many had wittnessed that embarressing mishap l  dusted myself down and carried on only to have a pretty major fall right on the A30 nr Redruth on a very busy stretch. Not only my pride, knee, elbow and chin were hurt but my poor bike. I'd managed to break a pedal, bend the brake levers and break the luggage rack...quite a crash really & l honestly don't know why. I'm just very pleased that the traffic behind stopped as at this point I was in the middle of the road. Anyway, fortunately for me, Caroline had driven down from her home in High Wycombe to finish this event with me and she was parked approx 8 miles ahead so I literally taped up the pedal , bent back the brakes and bungeed the rack up and soldiered on feeling like I'd been through a mangle. Good 'ol Caroline with her first aid kit patched me up and I sedately carried on with some loss of confidence in my cycling abilities!! If it hadn't been the last day, I wonder if I'd have felt differently.

Several hours later and only a few miles to go, my family passed, making their way to Lands End for my arrival. I passed and was passed by, two different groups of cyclists obviously doing JOGLE too. It was all getting most exciting as support vehicles were in evidence in many laybys.

It was very emotional as I finished, there was a huge crowd of people waiting at the end of the road, cheering etc yet I didn't know them [apart from my family]. It was very over aweing and unexpected but they were waiting for others in their teams too. I was given a glass of bubbles and much congratulating. I was in fact the only female, the only single cyclist (not in a team) and the only one that had carried their luggage and camped not Travel-lodged and the oldest by some 30 years so I was very proud of myself too!    

A great experience and hugely morral lifting by all the kind donations that SO many of you have kindly pledged for the BHPS

I've been overwhelmed by all your generosity and I'd like to say a huge thankyou to everyone who has helped along the way and especially to Caroline who so wanted to complete the trip with me, She's been an absolute star and support and had none of the fulfillment at the end. Thank you Caroline

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