Cycling John O’Groats to Lands End in aid of Brain Tumour Research

26/09/2024

Article from the Louth Leader 🤩

An epic cycling challenge by a Louth dad with a terminal brain tumour has raised almost double its £5,000 target for charity.

12/09/2024

Crossing the finish line..

12/09/2024

JoGLE Day 13.5 - Camborne to Lands End
As we stirred this morning and heard the rain falling outside, our hearts momentarily sank, but by the time we were ready to leave just before 9am, the rain had stopped and the sun decided to come out. Only a short ride today with a lunchtime finish and not too hilly. Dropping into Marazion and seeing St Michael’s Mount was special and the views along the bay generally on the cycle path were such a great reward. Penzance was Penzance - and there was only about another 10 miles or so to ride into Sennen, perched on the rocky outcrop just above Lands End. The last few hundred yards on NCN 3 felt like a victory lap. We rolled into the finish together just before midday with family cheering us in, and I think we all felt quite emotional about the whole experience and what we’d achieved together. Not just the three riders but so many other people too, through their support, encouragement, love and sacrifices. You all know who you are and we did this together. 🥰🥳🤩
Thanks to everyone who has followed this journey / challenge and given so generously. We are thrilled to have raised so much for such an important cause.
We had our official photo, hot Cornish pasties, champagne, Prosecco and a special cake which was lovely to share before we all needed to disperse and head home or onto a new destination.
Day 13.5 completed. 26 miles for the day.
Our total mileages on Strava for the trip vary from 984 miles to 993 miles. 45,322 feet of ascent - and don’t our legs know it. 🤩

12/09/2024

They’ve done it! 🎉🍾🏁👏
Full final day report to follow later….

12/09/2024

It’s the final day! 🎉🍾🏁
Link to Ed’s tracker:

11/09/2024

JoGLE Day 13 - Torpoint to Camborne
A lovely breakfast at our hideaway accommodation ‘The Liscawn’ and then the usual fettling that took longer than normal meant we didn’t set off until 9.50am… but with just 59 miles planned today and sun forecast, what could possibly go wrong?
We started off along the south east coast with marvellous views through Downderry and Seaton and noticed a theme developing very quickly: breakneck downhill descents into pretty harbour towns followed immediately by nose-bleed inducing near vertical ascents where in some cases we had to carry our bikes up steps - or roads that were so steep we were worried about our shoes losing grip on the tarmac!! It was slow going and by midday we’d only covered about 14 miles.
On the plus side, Looe and Polperro were as pretty as everyone says, even despite the unforecasted rain that seemed to start up every half an hour or so..😬
We had one ferry crossing today at Polruan across to Fowey which we made just as they were departing. The streets in Fowey were still crowded with tourists on a wet September day and we grabbed hot pasties ‘to go’ from the bakers which were lovely and warmed us up a bit. Leaving town we met briefly with the support crew to discuss our lack of progress and what we might do about it. The decision was to re-route and mostly use the main A390 at least as far as Truro which had its risks and would be less pretty but a bit more expedient. For the next few hours, that’s what we did, and we did start to claw time back. We picked up our original route a few miles before Redruth - mainly NCN3, and arrived in Camborne just before 7pm.
Day 13 completed. 57miles. And lots of hills.
We went out for a special dinner tonight to mark our last night together before the finale tomorrow lunchtime, after which we disperse. We had a lovely dinner at the most unique Carn Brea Castle Restaurant- (Google it) thanks to Adam’s mum for paying the majority of the bill for us, and to Rebekah for driving us there in the dark along a very dodgy, narrow and bumpy single track lane.
The finish line awaits tomorrow…

11/09/2024

They’ve just set off on their penultimate day and have passed the £7k mark on the just giving site…what an amazing achievement on all accounts.

Thank you everybody for your fantastic support, both in donations and encouragement. ❤️

Help Edward Cox raise money to support Brain Tumour Research

10/09/2024

JoGLE Day 12 - Exeter to Torpoint
Best laid plans to get off at 9am went awry again. Adam’s front tyre is not seated quite right in the wheel rim. After 20 mins of messing around we gave up and headed off, down to the River Exe to follow it past Powderham Castle and the Atmospheric Railway pumping tower at Starcross and then on into Dawlish and Teignmouth for a coffee stop with Adam’s parents. The hill climbing today was on a new level and we weren’t even in Cornwall yet😬. Tracking our way out through south Devon we had a whistle stop lunch in Totnes and then battled strong headwinds and driving rain for the whole of the rest of the day. It was almost like the elements were throwing everything at us, to see what we were made of.
Various rest stops and bits of relief from the weather extended the already slowest progress day of the trip so far. We even missed the Cremyll Ferry across the River Tamar by one minute. 😞You couldn’t make it up! The relief/blessing though was the ferry we did get 30 mins later was the last crossing of the day. They were packing up two hours early due to the poor weather.
31 climbs today and a final arrival at our accommodation about 730pm. Clothes are drying and we are resting and contemplating Day 13. Only 60 miles but the hills go into overdrive tomorrow…
Day 12 completed. 65 miles.

10/09/2024

Tracker link for Day 12…

10/09/2024

So close to the £7k mark 🎉 which is absolutely fantastic. Thank you to everyone who has donated and helped spread the word about this amazing challenge. 🥰

Help Edward Cox raise money to support Brain Tumour Research

10/09/2024

JoGLE Day 11 - Clevedon to Exeter
Blue skies and a swirling westerly wind greeted us this morning as we headed out across Somerset, getting ever closer to our goal. We were quickly on cycle tracks, joining the fabulous Strawberry Line at Yatton and switching back then between. Lanes and canal towpaths all the way down past Bridgewater to our lunch stop at Taunton. We had toasted paninis at the ‘Wickets’ cafe and set off again south through Wellington making worryingly good progress🤩
About mile 55 the hills started up as we crossed into Devon, I know not exactly where, as there seem to be very few county signs these days. However, the terrain did the talking, plus the wonderful views from any number of roadside farm gateways.
The last few miles in were hard work on the legs, but passing NT Killerton Estate was pretty and once in (busy) Exeter, we founds our accommodation easily enough shortly before 6pm. Day 11 completed, 78m.
Nice to have Adam’s sister Louise tonight joining us for food at the Cosy Club.
Day 12 awaits. Shorter, but much hillier!