Thanks for taking the time to visit this JustGiving page.

If you would like to make a donationto St Richard's Hospice in recognition of the achievements of Richard and Anne we would be enormously grateful.  

Raising just £5 per mile would bring in over £10,000

Professor Richard Lewis, recently retired consultant respiratory physician from Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Vice Chairman of Governors of St Richard’s Hospice and his wife Dr Anne Lewis retired General Practitioner at Knightwick Surgery decided to celebrate their retirement by undertaking a fund raising cycle ride on a tandem from Shetland to Spain. They undertook the trip fully self supported complete with tent, sleeping bags, cooker etc.  They did the ride in two main stages, France and Spain in April, and the British Isles in July/August.  Despite the deluges experienced in the UK during  both April and July they only had two half days of rain the whole trip.

 

 

From north the south their route was:

 

Shetland

 

Orkney

 

Thurso to Ullapool via Lairg

 

Lewis / Harris / Berneray / N Uist / Benbecula / S Uist / Eriskay / Barra

 

Oban to Kennacraig

 

Islay and Jura

 

Kennacraig to Campbeltown

 

Ballycastle via Giants Causeway  Broughshane to Belfast

 

Liverpool , Chester, Shrewsbury, Suckley, Gloucester, Stroud, Malmesbury, Salisbury, Lymington

 

Yarmouth Ryde

 

St Malo , Redon, Challon, La Rochelle, Ile d’Oleron, Royan

 

Pauillac, Vertheuil, Le Porge, Lacanau.

 

Basin d’Arcachon, Biscarros, Vieux Boucau, St Jean de Lux

 

Tolosa, Beasin, Zumarraga, Bergara, Duago, Bilbao, Castro Urduales

 

Details of distances

 

Total road distance cycled 3,388.6 km (2,105.6 miles)

 

Total height climbed during trip 27,936 metres, (91,653 feet, or 17.36 miles of elevation)

 

Total full days cycling 28

 

 

 

Technical details of bike

 

Circe Helios Tandem custom built for this trip by Cyclecentric Cambridge. 

 

20 x inch 36 spoke x 1.75” wheels with Schwalbe Marathon plus tyres (one puncture on very last morning when tyre worn through the outer casing)

 

4 brakes:  Hope tech V2 hydraulic 203 disk front, Shimano Deore mechanical 203 disk rear, plus Deore front and rear V rim brakes. Ergon GC3 grips.

 

Sram 3 x 9 dual drive 42 chain ring, 11-32 cassette, gain ratios from 1.3 to 7.3, gear inches from 18.0 to  97.1 inches

 

Brooks leather saddles and Cane Creek Thudbuster for stoker

 

Schmidt SON 20 dynohub powering two  Busch and Muller Cyo Front lights and B&M Toplight rear light, plus E-werk system with cache battery to power iphone. Also Fibreflares x 2 and Light and Motion Vis 180 rear light.

 

Navigation via iPhone with Memory Map UK, IGN France and TomTom cycleroute plus pages taken from Britain, France and Spain road atlases.

 

Baggage carried:

 

Ortlieb classic waterproof bar bags x 2 (3.5kg and 2.1kg)

 

Front bag (Brompton T bag) 7.9kg (waterproofs tools and warm wear)

 

Ortieb rack bag 8.3kg (for tent and sleeping mats)

 

Ortleb classic roll top panniers (9.2kg and 9.5kg)