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FCA Cycle Challenge 2010 reaches its climax at John O'Groats
June 02, 2010
During the two weeks spanning Foster Care Fortnight 2010, Chris Benjamin and Morris Gooding from FCA's Western office have taken on a remarkable challenge.
In a bid to raise awareness of fostering and raise money for Bulgarian NGO For our Children, the guys have made their way from Britain's two furthermost points - Land's End to John O'Groats - using nothing but sheer determination and some serious pedal power.
Two weeks, 1066 miles
Two weeks and 1066 miles on, with Foster Care Fortnight 2010 now at its end, the guys have finally reached their Holy Grail that is John O’Groats.
”I looked out of my Inverness hotel room window at 5am on Sunday to a grey, rainy morning. By the time we'd sorted ourselves out, the rain had gladly stopped,” described Chris.
“We made our way up the A9, across the Moray & Cromarty Firths. The A9 between these firths is not good for cycling, but at this time of the morning on a Sunday it was reasonably safe. We passed Tain, Golspie and Brora. You have to keep your wits about you – the roads are reminiscent of the Isle of Man TT course!
“The clouds began to break up, but along with the sun came a blustery headwind, making it tough-going, especially with our steep ascent and a couple of particularly long climbs.
We knew this would be a long hard day and so planned plenty of short stops to munch more calories and stretch aching limbs. Like Land’s End, parties of other End to Enders started to appear, all battling their way Northward.
“Having switched to the A99, we continued up through Wick with a growing sense that the road was running out as the Orkney Islands came into view.
Few words were spoken on those last miles - each of us absorbed in our own reflections about the journey and its immanent conclusion. That last hill, though not particularly hard, took every last ounce of my strength.
We made to the end of the road at 6.30pm Sunday 30.5.10. The sun shone (and so did we).
Stats for the last day:
Distance = 111 miles
Average speed = 12.5 mph
Max speed = 35 mph
Stats for the whole ride:
Total distance = 1066 miles
Where do you want to go now?
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