The idea for this challenge started one evening whilst Nick & Kim were relaxing with Liz and Al in their garden for a BBQ back in the summer of 2008.

Al mentioned he had always wanted to cycle from John O’Groats to Lands End as he was approaching the young age of 60 he thought it was about the right time to attempt it. Nick said it sounded like a good idea and he would like to join Al.

We take so much out of life. So this was the ideal opportunity to give something back and to try and help other people not so fortunate as us.

We decided we would ride for two charities and try to raise as much money as possible to be split 50/50 between them.

Al had previously completed a 15,000 feet tandem parachute jump in 2008 (Action Man) and raised in excess of £1100 for the Alzheimer's Society. As Liz’s mum has been suffering from Alzheimer's for several years and is now in a nursing home. So it was easy to choose Alzheimer's again.

Nick decided to cycle for Macmillan Cancer Support. Nick’s mother in law has been fighting cancer for many years and Macmillan Cancer Support are there to help and support cancer patients and their families all over the country. Most people will know a family member or friend who is or has suffered from this terrible disease.

UPDATE: SINCE WE HAVE SET THIS WEBSITE UP NICK’S MOTHER-IN-LAW HAS LOST HER BATTLE AGAINST CANCER AND SADLY PASSED AWAY ON 9TH FEBRUARY 2010.

(Please select the Charity Info tab you will find more information about each charity and how you can help by donating money).

Nick and Al have done very little cycling in the past. Nick undertook a 25 mile charity ride for the British Heart Foundation about 8 years ago on his old mountain bike (without any training and was a wreck when he got home). This was the sum of his cycling experience.

Al on the other hand hasn’t been on a bike for about 30 years. His previous long distance cycling experience was as a boy when he lived in Dulverton. He and a friend decided to cycle to Cornwall camping for a few days and Al promptly fell off his bike about a mile from his home.

So March 2009 we both bought two new Hybrid bikes from the very helpful people at “The Bicycle Chain” in Bridgwater. And cycled them back to Street.

Nick has enjoyed getting into the Lycra and Al has slowly succumbed to the benefits of this wonderful fabric!!!!!

We plan to set off from John O’Groats on May 29th 2010 and cycle to Lands End in 13 – 14 days. There is much organising and lots of training to undertake before we leave but we are both looking forward to the challenge.

We wouldn’t be able to attempt this challenge without the help and support of our dear wives Kim & Liz. They will be our support team going ahead each day to find accommodation B&B/guesthouse or pitching the tent and washing our sweaty cycle gear. In fact taking great care of us both.

We want to complete the challenge in the allotted time but also experience some of the natural beauty of the British Isles. So we are planning a route that will take in as much as possible of this but also keep us on target. The total distance should be just under 1000miles. If you click on the route tab you can see our proposed route but this may be updated if we find more suitable options.

We plan to add regular updates in the BLOG section during training and hopefully daily updates during the challenge.

Please keep coming back as this web site is a work in progress. Thanks to Nick’s son’s David for help with the web site and Adam with cycling jersey designs.

Finally and most important please donate as much as you can to help us reach our target to raise in excess of £10,000 for these two charities.

Details on how to donate can be found on our home page and on the charity information tab and other areas of this website.

Thank you all for your support.

Nick and Al