East to west coast cycle

Team East to West cycle

A note from Dave, Steve, Mark, Ian and Meryl who cycled from the east to the west coast of England and raised an amazing £1317.42.

I am delighted to be able to confirm that we have completed the 160 miles cycle ride from the west coast to the east coast of England in three days.

Day one we left home at 7.30am with our bikes loaded in a van courtesy of Lloyd from Resapol and our two drivers Roy and Pat.

Two hours later we unloaded the van and set off from Barrow-in Furness with the sea behind us, our panniers packed, our water bottles full of high energy rocket fuel and I must admit an air of in trepidation.

During the first day we stopped off for a quick lunch break in Ulverstone. We were overwhelmed by the support of people in the local village who came up to us, thrust money in our hands and gave us words of encouragement in support of our cause one after the other, it really was quite emotional and made it all very real.

The day just got hotter and hotter and the hills just got steeper but eventually after several hours in the saddle we arrived at the Station Inn Oxenholme at 4.30 PM where we enjoyed a well earned pint before a shower and an evening meal. We all agreed that day one was far tougher than we thought and there was much harder climbs to come. Believe it or not, 10.00 pm and we were tucked up in bed fast asleep! Now that was a first for a Saturday night!

Day two started at 7.00 am with a strong coffee, a shower and a limber up in preparation for the full English breakfast, well we needed to pack in those carbs. We left the hotel at 9.30am after a few running repairs to Steve’s and my flapping panniers which by now had turned in to parachutes.

We turned right out of the pub and started a climb that lasted most of the day in sweltering 30 degree heat. Lunch break in a small café brought another wave of support and more cash in the bank. One elderly gentleman in question who had been suffering from cancer for four years gave a very generous donation, wished us well and waved us on. That one stopped us in our tracks!

We climbed the remaining 1732 feet up and over the infamous Tan Hill and into the Yorkshire Dales, the scenery was just breath taking. A quick pit stop at the top in the highest pub in England and then a very bumpy down hill run through farm tracks, fields and farm yards where Mark, or Animal as we call him, decided to make his own way through the fields on a tight left hand bend and we got to practice our puncture repair skills. The final 16 miles of the day was down hill in to Barnard Castle. 6.30pm and a mileage count of 113, we’d broke its back!

Another over night stay, this time at the Old Well Inn. We entered the pub and everyone stopped drinking, oops, this could be a mistake. We were wrong, the support from the locals was once again brilliant. We knew we had climbed over the worst part of the ride so we relaxed a little and we enjoyed a good laugh over fantastic food and couple of pints and several yawns. Nothing too heavy as we still had 50 miles to go on Monday.

Day three and another plate of carbs to fuel the legs. We loaded the bikes and set off for Sunderland, the last leg of our 160 mile journey. We descended down in to Bishop Auckland passing crop filled fields via disused rail tracks, country lanes and a few welcome descents where Ian and Meryl passed us yet again on the tandem at record speeds of over 40 Mph, Ant Hill Mob eat your heart out!

Eventually we climbed over the last peak and Dave bit the dust, he’d forgot the cleats again. There it was, the coast line, one last push for the remaining five miles and we arrived at the shores of Sunderland in one piece and one team.

We would all like to say a MASSIVE thank you to all our sponsors, families and friends for supporting us on this incredible journey. We would like to say a vey special thank you to our two training partners Lloyd and James who unfortunately were unable to make the ride this year. There is no way we are doing it without you next year guys!

Also thank you to Lloyd from Resapol for arranging and providing our transport and to our two top drivers Pat and Roy for waving us off in the West and collecting us in the East.

We all agreed to fund the three days traveling expenses ourselves to maximise the monies raised for the charities. We can confirm that we have raised over £4000 for our chosen charities and we want you to know that this will make a huge difference to children with special needs and cancer sufferers in the UK.

As a result of the overwhelming response we have decided to give a portion of the sponsorship to a second school for children with special needs, Tor View in Haslingden.

We have every intention of doing it again next year.

Dave, Steve, Mark, Ian and Meryl