LEJoG and supporting Macmillan Nurses

Peter Hooper, a member of Audlem Cycling Club is following in Dave Cooper and Monique Hollingsworth's footsteps (or rather pedals) and doing one of the ultimate challenges for cyclists, the End-to-End, from Land's End to John O'Groats.

He says: "I've wanted to do it for years – I'm a keen club cyclist and have done plenty of big one day and multi-day trips, both here and in Europe. But not anything as challenging as cycling from one end of the UK to the other."

Quite a few friends have done it, including Dave and Monique last year and, inspired by them, this year I've finally managed to make time to do it, together with my brother-in-law Joe who works for Norfolk Fire & Rescue Service.

"We're doing the 1000 miles over two weeks, averaging about 70 miles a day. Dave and Monique did it in 8 days averaging well over 100 miles a day, but (a) that's just not normal, even for Coxbank; and (b) this is supposed to be my summer holiday.

"My son Ben is driving our support car and scouting out campsites each night.'We start from Land's End on Saturday 15th June and aim to finish at John O'Groats on or around Friday 28th June.

"Not wanting to tempt fate, but two weeks of fine weather and strong south-westerly winds would be nice... All being well we'll be stopping in Audlem overnight on 19th June, trying not to think about the fact that we'll only be about a third of the way to John O'Groats.

"It seems wrong to do such a big challenge without taking the chance to raise some money for a good cause, so I'm fund-raising for Macmillan Cancer Support – I know first hand from family and friends what an important role they play in supporting cancer sufferers
and their families.' I've set an initial target of £1,000."

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