Hi everyone
I don't know if you remember, but back in January I decided I was going to do a bike ride across England (West to East) for charity. It's a local charity called St Helenas Hospice (http://www.sthelenahospice.org.uk/)
They get very little funding from the government and rely on charity and donations to keep operating and they work very hard themselves to keep going and keep providing a very helpful service for people who are coming to the end of their lives, regardless of age. They provide care within the establishment as well as providing help and support at home for people who want to move on at home.
They are an incredible charity and I feel very honoured that I could do this ride for them and try and get some money for them.
The ride I am doing is the C2C Cycle Route - from Whitehaven on the west coast of England to Tynemouth (Newcastle) on the east coast. It's 140 miles and across some big climbs. We're doing it over 3 days from the 24th-27th August. This is the C2C Route (http://www.c2c-guide.co.uk/)
This a rough map of the journey - Day 1 is green, Day 2 is yellow and Day 3 is blue.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1160.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq499%2Fwmar1967%2FSnap1-2.jpg&hash=faba506e2bc2d25495ab96911d724d9df4085ce1)
(forget the START - FINISH marks on the map below - this is one from the web - same route but I'll be going West to East)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1160.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq499%2Fwmar1967%2Fimage001.jpg&hash=5a09753c4277423778bd253683d6da593e22bf02)
I've got a suitable bike for the journey, accomodation is booked, I've now lost 2 stone (28lbs or 13kg) and I cycle around 150 miles a week at an average of 17mph with my biggest ride to date a half respectable 54 miles. I hope I'm ready.
Well the cycle is only 5 weeks away - so I'm having a last drive at trying to get some more funding for the Hospice. I never ever set myself a target because I don't take failure well - so I was happy with whatever came in. As it is, I've been overwhelmed with the money I've received. £700 is alot more than I ever thought I would achieve - but all it's done is drag that £1000 into view.
The people at my work have been great, with over £250 from them - and most of them are on minimum wage.
I know we are a faceless bunch here...and no-one knows me on a personal level - but I'm appealing to your good, charitable nature to donate if you can. It doesn't have to be alot...whatever you can spare will help the charity and give me a boost over the hills.
You can donate by going to my JustGiving website (https://www.justgiving.com/William-Riley1967) or you can donate by text - texting WTMH53 and the amount you want to donate in the body of the text to 70070. So to donate £5 the text would look like this
TO: 70070
WTMH53 £5
The text donations for Just Giving are sponsored by Vodafone and are free – so 100% of the donation goes to St Helena's Hospice
Don't forget to leave your email address so I can thank you.
Thanks for reading and a massive thank you on behalf of St Helena's Hospice for donating.
Death is an incredibly emptional time for anyone involved at any level and I'm sure we all know someone who has passed away - either intimately or just through knowing about them. My own dad passed away in 1999 at 56 and every year I still cry on May 26th thinking about what we're missing as a family without him around.
All I can give in return is the knowledge that I'll be working very hard over 3 days and that you will be helping people come to terms with a loss or helping ease someone to their passing.
Good health to you all and take care and once again - thank you very much.
The very best of luck to you, and hope this bloody awful weather clears up.
We'll actually be going in the oposite direction, as we will be driving from Newcastle to Settle on the 27th for a WoW Guildmeet over the weekend.
Thanks - please don't hit me! :P
I'll wave if I see ya :)
I'd rather you kept both hands on the wheel! :P
Toot yer horn! ;D
lol - righty-oh.
My C2C Charity bike ride is complete.
We raised over £1000 for a local charity St Helenas Hospice. Thanks to everyone who donated (I know a few on here did).
I just wanted to say, I'll be writing a blog on the journey.
The first page is up - it's just an intro to the journey, what was planned and things people might need to know or kit to take with them
http://billyrileyc2c.blogspot.co.uk/
Congrats JD on rasing that much.
Hope the ride was enjoyable.
Thanks Barthheart. It was bloody good fun. Now the pains have subsided, I'm thinking about doing it again or maybe even a new challenge. I'd love to get in shape first though.
Introduction and Day 1 of my C2C Challenge is on my blog
http://billyrileyc2c.blogspot.co.uk/
Good stuff Dredd.
Definitely good stuff.
Thx. And an "oops" - I need to edit it...I took Andy off his bike on the first day, it was actually the second day. Curse this short term memory rubbish!
Well done JD - Good result!
Cheers Bob.
Day 2 is up!
This is really taxing my memory trying to remember the various things!
The final part (Day 3) of our C2C Challenge blog is up here http://billyrileyc2c.blogspot.co.uk/
Enjoy