Articles in Blog Posts

Back in the Saddle – Update 25

Today I have managed to reach Edinburgh Castle on my exercise bike challenge – pedalling the equivalent distance of the route from Land’s End to John o’Groats. I’m nearly 3/4 of the way through too, and it feels like I might actually be able to achieve this goal. I never envisaged, when I started on 24 January 2021, that I would still be slowly pedalling away as we approach April 2022! However, I am still going, that blue ‘distance completed’ line is gradually getting longer and I will get there eventually. Every turn of the pedals gets me a tiny bit closer to the finish.

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Back in the Saddle – Update 24

I am really getting there – I’ve now achieved 2 pretty monumental targets on my virtual exercise bike challenge, pedalling the equivalent distance of the route from Land’s End to John o’Groats. I am 2/3 of the way through the journey AND I’ve reached the England / Scotland border!

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Back in the Saddle – Update 23

On Monday I reached the next checkpoint at Hadrian’s Wall, on my exercise bike challenge (covering the distance from Land’s End to John o’Groats). The route from Bradford took me through Penrith. Strange to think that in 2013 we actually cycled through there in real life on our family holiday cycling the Coast2Coast route. I remember cycling through there very well because there was a very steep hill. I’m glad I don’t have to tackle all those hills on my exercise bike! Life has changed a lot since 2013, but positivity, amazing family and friends along with determination are keeping me going.

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A busy week of Fair4All Card applications

A laptop on a tidy desk showing the Fair4All website.

Cary talks about running the applications for a week

I’ve had a busy week sorting out Fair4All Card applications, so I wanted to take some time to talk to you about what I’ve been doing.

Last week was a bit strange as most of our team were absent for one reason or another, which meant that I had a lot of applications to keep going. I had to pick up some from part way through, and I had to take others through the entire process. 

But what is that process? Read on to find out.

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Back in the Saddle – Update 22

Today marks the anniversary of when I first started my virtual attempt to cycle the equivalent distance of a route from Land’s End to John o’Groats.  When I set off, this time last year, I thought I’d be completing about 5km a day and that I’d be able to complete the distance in round about a year.  Due to a major Chronic Fatigue flare, which started in March, 2021 really didn’t pan out the way I had envisaged.  However, I am proud to say that despite everything, I have managed to get on the exercise bike every single day.  Some days I only managed to pedal 0.25km but even these tiny distances add up and they each got me bit further along the route.  The youngest woman to climb both sides of Mount Everest and also ski solo to the South Pole, Mollie Hughes, said a great thing in an interview recently.  It was something along the lines of, when you are doing a challenge, it’s not about aiming to reach the goal, it’s about achieving the best you can each day.  I wholeheartedly agree with that.

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Back in the Saddle – Update 21

I’ve made it one final checkpoint before my original predicted finish date for my Back in the Saddle exercise bike challenge. I am now in the Yorkshire Dales National Park! It’s a very long way to the next checkpoint at Hadrian’s Wall – 170km to be precise. Might take me a while to get there I think, even if I do keep managing to do 4-5km a day. Something between 34 and 42 days I reckon. Lots of pedaling to do.

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Back in the Saddle – Update 20

I’ve now reached Bradford and, miracle of miracles, I’ve also passed the half way point! Yippee!!! This virtual challenge of cycling the distance from Land’s End to John o’Groats is taking me far longer than I ever thought it would, but with a bit of stubborn determination and a lot of encouragement from all of you, my amazing friends and family, I am slowly but surely getting there.

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Back in the Saddle – Update 19

I am now in the beautiful Peak District National Park and 49% of the way through my virtual journey. I still can’t quite believe how far I’ve managed to cycle each day for the last few weeks. I’ve even managed 1 day were I hit the heady heights of 5km on my trusty exercise bike! That was what I was thinking I’d be achieving everyday, the whole way through this challenge You never know, at this rate I might make it to John o’Groats by the 1.5 anniversary (24 July 2022) of when I started, rather than my original predicated end date (24 January 2022). However, whenever I get there is fine with me. It’s not like someone’s going to come along and move the finishing post.

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