15/09/2024
We caught up with Ian and Manfred at their group’s farewell dinner after cycling 1,009 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats in 14 days.
Q. Was it as tough as you expected it to be?
Ian: “We were quite blase about signing up for LeJog but as the start approached our anxiety levels increased. The reality was that every day we faced 7-23 climbs which over the period of 14 days amounted to 10.4 miles or four times the height of the Eiger mountain while cycling an average of 72 miles a day, the shortest 50 and the longest 90. When we met the other 16 participants on the night before the start we realised that everyone else had the same feelings of trepidation. One thing we knew was that we couldn’t let down all the people (and Tibbs) who’d put their trust in us to complete the cycle ride and sponsored us”.
Q. What were the best moments?
Manfred: “Every day was different. It was a great privilege to ride through the varied cities and beautiful countryside of Great Britain and meet lots of interesting people. Everywhere we went, people wanted to talk and share experiences, whether farmers selling homemade ice cream in the beautiful WAG countryside south of Leigh or the people in the hospitality business from north to south making the experience more interesting and welcoming. Even people in cars on ferries helping us with the names of rivers. Marvellous. The list is endless”.
Q. Who did you meet along the way?
Ian: “We met all sorts of interesting characters and some of them were incredibly kind. Like the man who saw a group of us miss our lunch stop on day 1 and ride two miles down a hill to the King Harry ferry, which crosses the river Fal, which we were supposed to catch after lunch. He drove after us and guided us back to the lunch spot, where we really did need the food after our detour”.
Manfred: “In Bristol a local man who turned out to be a LeJog veteran shared his experiences with us and gave us a local history lesson about Ashton Court (now owned by the Council - you’ll remember the picture) which was almost certainly built with money made in the slave trade; I’m sure you’ll also remember me pictured with the lady keeping the roadside clean while we were climbing the Cheddar Gorge who turned out to be a Tibbs volunteer; really helpful staff in the Wookey Inn, especially a heavily-tattooed young woman dressed to show off her body art to maximum effect who was open and charming with a wicked sense of humour and helped us with comms in a phone signal black spot and managed to get the less organised of us fed before their cut off time”.
Ian: “We didn’t just meet the locals. There were three generations (teenager, mum and grandma) from Charleston South Carolina (wonderful Deep South accent) at the whisky museum in Glasgow. Lovely, open, engaging, interesting people; two elderly (46 years married) American tourists from Connecticut just outside Gretna Green who had cycled all around Ireland and Scotland, camping out, en route to the Lake District, keen to share experiences and surprised that we youngsters were staying in hotels! We even encountered German staff in Scottish hotels from Gretna to Bettyhill on the north coast of Scotland. Manfred was quick to spot their accents, which no one else noticed, and surprised them with his own fluent German”.
Q: After completing your journey, what’s next for both of you?
Manfred: “We’re flying home tomorrow and looking forward to resting our legs for a few days! We did the ride to raise money for Tibbs Dementia Foundation in Bedford, to pay for their new strength and balance sessions, and we aimed to raise £2,000 in sponsorship. At the end of our journey, we got the news that we have raised double that amount!”
Ian: “We can’t thank our sponsors enough. Members of our own Rotary Club (Bedford Park) and readers of the Biddenham Loop get a special mention, but lots of lovely Bedford people have chipped in to help our own Dementia charity. Thank you- you have made all our efforts worthwhile”.
