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Stopping Places
Say “140 miles in a saddle” and your calves start to ache and your bum feels sore before you turn a pedal. So what is the secret of cycling long distances without a serious dose of weary anticipation?
It’s all to do with stopping points.
I’ve booked three places to stay overnight on my charity ride from Coast to Coast. The first is in Whitehaven. I arrive on June 22nd to make an early start the next morning on my C2C ride. The second stop is 53 miles away at Penrith. I’m staying at lodgings that specialise in looking after C2C cyclists. Fellfoot Independent Hostel has secure cycle storage and it’s really cheap. Then it’s over the Pennines for 40 miles, the stiffest part of the ride, to Rookhope, where I’ve booked into the Rookhope Inn for what will be a well deserved sleep (after suitable refreshment.) That leaves another 40 miles to complete the ride. After an initial climb it is – as they say – all downhill from there to Sunderland and the sea.
In between those planned stops there will be times for coffee, tea, cake, lunch, photography and map reading. I see no point in being in some of the loveliest countryside on earth if I don’t stop now and again to appreciate it. So the trip will be split into manageable sections which follow one after another until I reach my destination and collect all your sponsorship money.
Talking of which I am raising funds for two charities. Riding Lights Theatre Company and the Funzi and Bodo Trust. The first to support a professional company that delivers original productions in schools, prisons, theatres, churches across the country and also offers great experience to aspiring actors in its two youth theatres and Roughshod company. All with a Christian purpose. The second trust is providing two communities in Kenya with a much needed Medical Centre and a School.
To donate follow one or both of these links.
Morning Prayer for the broken hearted
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted?????
and will save those who are crushed in spirit.
The starting point
C2C for Charity
My ride starts in Whitehaven. If you hadn’t heard of it before, this small town on the west coast of Cumbria is now known for the most tragic of events. There can hardly be anyone who hasn’t turned their mind to the killing of so many people by a vindictive gunman in West Cumbria.
West Cumbria is where my great grandparents come from; Isaac and Martha Stephenson came from Whitehaven and Harrison and Annie Ware from a little further north in Cockermouth. My father hailed from Langdale in The Lakes – where I too was born. So I have long connections with this part of the world.
So as I arrive in Whitehaven on June 22nd I will be aware of the sorrow that fills that town, and in following the early miles of the C2C route I will pass through places which heard the sound of the first fatal gunshots. Those first few miles are supposed to be the easy approach to the tougher miles ahead through the Lakes and over The Pennines. But on my ride they will be be challenging, not because of steep inclines, but the emotional rollercoaster the people will be experiencing as their community life recovers from those recent horrifying events and the loss of people they love. I trust they are receiving the support they will need to complete the process.
My ride is for worthy causes elsewhere. If you want to sponsor me, follow these links: Riding Lights Theatre Company or Funzi and Bodo Trust
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