Chris's page
Christopher Marchant is raising money for Motor Neurone Disease Association
Participants: Chris Marchant, Simon 'Simbo' Bowie
Story
19th December 2023
Our very dear friend John Preus, a truly inspirational gentleman, died in September. It was he through the tragic illness of his daughter, Sarah who alerted me to to the crippling condition, that is M.N.D. and persuaded and then helped me to raise money for the cause. I am making a donation to his memory.
15th January 2022
And that was that or so it seemed. Those of us who have survived this dreadful pandemic without losing any loved ones, must consider ourselves lucky. These troubled times have given us a chance to empathise more than ever with those suffering from debilitating illnesses like MND.
Last September I did ride with hundreds of others on the weekend Dulux London Revolution ride. Starting at Lee Valley, we rode into London along the embankment and then South across the River to Dulwich and the Surrey hills. We ended that Saturday in Windsor, camping at the Racecourse. The next day we rode through the Chilterns in glorious weather and ended back at Lee Valley. Thank you to all those of you who made donations to the charity. We are slowly climbing to ten thousand pounds, a great achievement. In the last two years, I have managed to augment my cycling by 8000 miles.
Bless you all and stay safe
17th September 2019
Last year I duly completed the 280 mile London to Paris ride along with 15 others and what a wonderful ride it was being supported by guides and a man with a van who transported our baggage from place to place. We stopped off for the three nights at Dover, Abbeville and Beauvais before triumphantly arriving in Paris on Saturday 15th September and having held our bikes aloft in front of the Eiffel Tower we duly road round the Arc de Triomph. They were such lovely people that I rode with.
Having enjoyed the L2P so much, when Tony one of the riders who had conquered Paris along with me suggested continuing the ride to Bordeaux, I jumped at the chance. This time my wonderful daughter, Georgia came along and the six of us who rode were expertly guided by the incomparable Emyr and Tom. On September 12th we duly completed the 411 mile in five days and passed intervening nights in Chartres, Tours, Poitier and Sainte. Will I consider continuing the ride next year possibly taking in the Camino de Santiago? At this point I have to say why on earth not?
So here I yes I go again. My wonderful brother in law, Simon, is temporarily incapacitated. I wish him a speedy recovery! I will be riding over 4 days the iconic London to Paris ride. I begin at Greenwich on 11th September. Looking forward to it especially as I will have the luxury of having my baggage carried by the good folks of Maximum Adventure. Once again my thoughts will be with my dear friend John Preus and will think of Sarah and of course Pam as I endeavour to knock off the 273 miles.
2016
We made the ride from Ardnamurchan to Newcastle in a week, surviving rain, high winds and some sun. Another 350 miles notched up. Fiona and I celebrated 25 years of marriage this month and had a lovely bash at our local's new function room. Our generous friends raised another £140 for the cause.
So its nearly August meaning Simon and I will be embarking on our latest ride from Scotland's most Westerly point - Ardnamurchan to Newcastle, riding along Hadrian's Wall. Once again our thoughts will be with Sarah and all those who loved her. SO IF YOU CAN AFFORD THE ODD COPPER YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO111
August 31st2015 Simon and I duly completed another leg of what is developing into a longride that has so far seen us cover every inch between Oslo in Norway and Caenin France. The total mileage we coveredbetween the Hook of Holland and Caen was about 460 miles. The weather was generally glorious. We did experience one hiccup – my bike wasstolen in Dunkirk. At least my pannierswere recovered by the police and I continued on a substitute bike that I named ‘Ashes’as I made this emergency purchase the day the Aussies were skittled out for60!!!!!
Dig deep guys!!! I have just raised our target to£15 000
27th July2015. I am delighted that my lovely wife, Fiona was able to join me on a150 cycle ride from Whitehaven to Tynemouth and it was great to completethe very hilly C2C without any mishaps. The weather was largely good andour rest day in Penrith coincided with the one 24 hour spot when it didpour. The scenery was unforgettable and we made loads of friendsalong the way and partied with 5 other C2Cers in Allenheads, England’s highestvillage.
Next week Simon and I will be continuing ourmarathon continental ride by going South from the Hook of Holland riding a further500 miles to Caen in France. So continue to dig deep folks and back thecause as we continue to pedal for the memory of Sarah.
19th December 2014 was a very special day as once again Notre Dame High School, Norwich contributed the grand total of £1084 to the cause. Thank you to everyone at the school again.
3rd September 2014 It is 4 weeks since we started the Esbjerg to Oslo ride, 4 long weeks since I left our sandwiches on the train at Harwich International. Thanks to Mike the wonderful station master we were reunited with them. He was one of the many kind people who supported us on our latest escapade. Two weeks later we made a triumphant wild ascent into Oslo and then cycled from Friederikshavn to the far North of Denmark. Those are the bald facts but a book of our whole journey is in the making!
20th December 2013 Wonderful wonderful. John has just received a cheque for £1500 for MNDA from Notre Dame High School, Norwich. All our heartfelt thanks go to the School Council for agreeing to support the chartity. Just to remind everyone Simon and my riding started in 2009 - Lowestoft to Norwich, 2010. 2010 saw us complete the big one Lands End to John O'Groats and 2011 John O'Groats to Lowestoft. 2012 we just did the short Norwich to Harwich ride and this summer we rode Hook of Holland Esjbourg in Denmark. Next Summer it will be Esjbourg to Oslo.
14th August 2013 Well I am now sitting at home having with Simon completed the Hook of Holland to Esbourg ride (some 550 miles) in 9 days. We could have done it in a couple of less days but I could not book a ferry for Saturday 10th August and so we rode the last three days at a very leisurely pace having ridden to Henmoor in Germany at an average of over 65 miles a day. We met so many fantastic people along the way in Holland, Germany and Denmark that brought home to us that waht we were doing was so worth while.
A fantastic effort. It came to £1005. As its a cheque that was sent it will not be shown as an online donation but it has swelled the amount we have so far raised from about £3500 to about £4500. Great work Year Sevens at Swaffham.
I am absolutely delighted to announce that the coffee morning at the Focus Swaffham School raised well over £900. This amount will be shown on this page once we have the final amount in. A brilliant effort and thank you so much to all of Year Seven, each one of whom is an absolute star.
It is with great sadness that I have to announce that Sarah is no longer with us. She died on Saturday 30th March at 10 30 in the morning. Her memory lives on in all our hearts and Simon and I will continue riding inspired by how she bore this terrible illness with such fortitude. Our love and prayers go out to all the family especially to John and Pam.
We will be riding from the Hook of Holland to somewhere along the Danish coast as we embark on the European leg of our North Seas ride.
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
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. We have done it. We completed the cycle ride round Britain by reaching Lowstoft on Thursday 11th August 2011. The ride went on despite the fact that my Dad sadly died at the end of July. I dedicated this last leg to him as well as my Mum who passed away at Christmas and of course MND. Whats more the ride goes on and on. We have now inadvertently almost completed the British leg of the North Sea ride. Holland and Germany are next up and then Denmark and Norway before the Scottish isles. Can we manage it over the next couple of summers? Well its g oing to be tricky this Summer but 2013 and 2014 should see us largely crack it, funding allowing! Oh yes!!! Simon and I (aka Simbo and the Crimbo) have indeed cycled from Lands End to John O'Groats in July/August 2010. The year before we cycled from Lowestoft to Lands End (a mere 562 miles). Last year we completed the triangle by cycling from J.O.G. to Lowestoft. We have clocked up nearly two thousand four hundred miles inspired by our very good friends, John and Pam, who's younger daughter, Sarah (pictured), has sadly succumbed to Motor Neurone Disease six years ago now. Her smile though remains as strong as ever and is an inspiration to us all. Anything you can do to raise money for research into this crippling illness will be really appreciated.
Simbo and I had a fantastic time cycling LeJog and the highlight was undoubtedly meeting so many wonderful people along the way. We set off from Land's End on July 26th and breezed into John O'Groats 16 days later. By making a donation you won't be able to restore the feeling to our nether regions but you will be providing more cash into funding research into the disease that afflicts Sarah and so many others. Thanks so much. Oh and do look at the pictures of our bike rides from Lowestoft to Land's End to John O'Groats and back to Lowestoft.
Chris's Diary of the LeJog ride as written by my 16 year old son!!
26/7/10 - Epic journey begun, the intrepid duo have gone as far as Truoro so far.
27/7/10 - Devon completed, one eighth of the journey out of the way.
28/7/10 - The delinquent duo steaming ahead, already passed Yatton and are close to Bristol doing a whopping 75 miles a day.
29/7/10 - Went to Gloucester and ate some cheese. Fortunately the good doctor Foster stayed away and it was sunny all day.
30/7/10 - The ripping riders made their way to Ironbridge, the national heritage site, fighting through rain and rain and more rain to get there. Their mate Bill came and met them. The duo also managed to swindle their way into a fancy hotel that overlooked the bridge!
31/7/10 - Rained again (typical). The troublesome twosome managed to dodge the law once again and also found a rather snazzy hotel (safehouse) in Frodsham.
1/8/10 - Managing to make it into August with their sanity (barely in tact), the crazy couplet had a hard days ride through Runcon. As the duo were riding they suddenly came across a problem, there was a river in their way, none other than the Mersey! This was obviously a problem as they had forgotten to attach floats to their bikes, the clowns. The bemused bikers were scratching their heads, wondering how they would get across the forsaken water, when a guardian angel came up to them and said "Fear not I will guide you across!" Good Peter as he was called did just that. Itturned out he had done the End to End three weeks previously.
As well as the sweets he also gave the duo some much needed maps of the area. Anyway, the twosome eventually said their goodbyes to the fellow and made their way to the Crows Nest in Lancaster to have a hearty meal and a good nights sleep!
2/8/10 - One step forward and two steps back, this kinda rain is a pain in a back. Lots of rain uphill. Not much rain downhill. The gruesome twosome made their way to Carlisle but "there were no rooms available" *wink wink*. So the tired travellers had to go even further than they initially expected and ended up at Wetherall, a place where the ghost of uncle Philip is said to still be.
3/8/10 - Stroong headwind today, hard work even for the beefy bikers. Met up with Noz in Scootland. Stopped for the night at Abington, Sooth of Glasgoo. The twosome claim they were the most famous guest to have stayed there since Napoleon III in 1839!
4/8/10 - A lot of rain today, ironically stayed in "Drymen". Well actually the village before - Croftamie.
5/8/10 - Good weather and only one rain shower! Sustrams route proved too much for the spiffing cyclers who later became the seperated cyclers when they missed a road sign. "You take the low road and I'll take the high road and I'll be in Scootland before you" is a way to describe the different paths that were taken by the befuddled bikers that day. But luckily they managed to meet up 10 miles later. The astounded amblers stayed at the oldest inn in Scotland, dating back to 1572!!!
6/8/10 - The soaking cyclers had to brave torrential rain for the whole day while cycling down the A9. Luckily for the bikers they saw that the highland games are on so shall be visiting them tomorow. Ach the noo!
7/8/10 - Rain stopped at 10am today, so the dry dudes had a whole day without rain! The tired travellers had a lot of trouble finding a bed for the night but were taken pity on by a lovely couple who drove them to the nearest restaurant.
8/8/10 - Rain held off again which caused the dogmatic duo to sing praises to the lord. The twosome covered 54 miles in under 5 hours which lets be honest should probably be in the Guiness World Records. 50 miles to J'OG and only 39 to Wick. THE END IS NEAR!!!!!@@@!@!@!@!@!
9/8/10 - Ironically, it rained. After a gentle ride the bad man bikers reached Wick at 2pm! What wasn't so gentle was the way their travel options crashed down around them, the train they were going to take had been cancelled. So after a tense few minutes the disgusted duo managed to book other "arrangements" to get home. Tomorrow is the big day, J'OG to Dunmetts Head which is the most northerly point in the whole entire GB!
10/8/10 - The end has come, Christopher Son of Geralde and Simeon Son of Douglas finally set their feet upon the most northerly point of the great kingdom of Britain. It has been a long, treacherous path, the adventurers fighting of rain and hail to get to this point. But it has all been worth it for the mighty duo, conquerors of the elements and bringers of peace to the unbarbaric and truly generous land of Scotlande! They have done what no mere mortal should be able to! They will be written down in legend as gods! Praise be Sir Simeon and Sir Christopher!
Now all that remains is to get the train home! Should be easy. Well shouldn't it?