Author: nicolahitchcock

My enormous thanks to everyone who has supported me on our John O’Groats to Land’s End cycle ride in memory of Rob who died of leukaemia on the 9th December 2013 aged 21 years.

Rob had planned to cycle from John O’Groats to Land’s End with his mum Lorraine when he was recovered but tragically that was not to be.  He made Lorraine promise to still do the ride and his dad Pip and fourteen family friends also joined in the challenge. Rob’s Ride raised over £50,000, enabling The Rob George Foundation to help many young people in desperate need.

A video has been posted by the Foundation:

I hope you enjoy the blog.  And I hope that one day my grand-daughter Phoebe will look at it to see what her mad granny (Nanna Nics) got up to when she was seven months old! Thank you so much once again. Your support spurred me on and helped me get up those hills!

Nicola XXX

The Devon and Cornish hills were brutal today and just kept coming at us. It was a long day made even longer by my group getting lost twice!  92 miles in total and 7,240 ft climbed. Legs sore and everyone is quite exhausted.

Every night someone is awarded the moustache and last night it was my turn and so I had to display it on my bike all day. The reason for my award was that the moustache goes with my chin dressing goatee! Also it was awarded because I brought Terry Backup with me! He has been very useful indeed!

One more day to go and no more Premier Inns!

We made it across the Severn Bridge! 

A difficult day for me – two punctures! Sorry time has run away and Internet too slow but I hope to do a fuller update by tomorrow evening. 

Back now. I am sorry that I was not able to give you, my devoted grannyonabicycle followers, a full report of yesterday. There was more to say….but I’m alright now! In addition to my two punctures that I mentioned, I also made a schoolgirl error. At about 45 miles the group had successfully negotiated getting through a very busy Ross-on- Wye when I misjudged the height of a kerb and the impact sent me over the handlebars. Head first I went, landing chin first and bashing my knee and wrist. I was pretty shaken up but my fellow jogleists Pip, Lorraine, Liz, Nigel and very thankfully Elizabeth who is a doctor came to the rescue. Elizabeth expertly patched up my chin and later steri-stripped it. It is healing well without the need for stitches. My wrist was quite painful last night but by the morning after regular icing it was much better. And so the granny could continue her adventure on a bicycle. 

As you can see, weather-wise it was a glorious day.  

A 71 mile day. In the morning we had showers and a strong headwind but by midday the sun was shining and the wind eased off. 

We negotiated our way through the heavy traffic of Telford. 

There were some tough climbs but it was a fun route thanks particularly to Sustrains cycle route 45. 

We left the Premier Inn at 9am for a ride of 71 miles to Crewe.

Negotiating our way through Preston was quite a challenge – very busy indeed and lots of underpasses. But soon we were on the tow path at Ashton-on-Ribble and the Lancaster Canal.  Yesterday we had passed from Cumbria to Lancashire and now we were in Cheshire. 

The tow paths and the other paths we went on were lovely but made the pace rather slow. But much better than being on the busy main roads of this industrial area. 

 At the half way point we had our lunch stop c/o Carl and Terry Backup. The sun was shining after a rainy start and so like all biking grannies I got my legs out for the first time.   It was another long day and we arrived at Premier Inn Crewe at about 7pm. Just time enough to clean the bike, have a quick bath, eat a quick meal, sort out clothes/washing etc for the next day and get some sleep. It certainly feels like ride, eat, sleep, repeat is all I am doing at the moment. Six days to go! 

‎A brutally long day. 77 miles, 7,000 feet of climbing, (that’s over two Mount Snowdons!) and into a very strong headwind. 

Along the way we encountered several obstacles in the road that had to be circumvented including sheep, rabbits and a chicken (why it was crossing the road we do not know). 

It took between nine and eleven hours for us to get it done but we all somehow managed it!   Take away pizza at 10 pm as restaurant closed! 

A short blog today therefore for which I suspect my readership will forgive me!   

Today would have been Rob’s 23rd birthday. It is going to be a particularly tough day for Pip and Lorraine and we hope to help them through it.

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Ride completed.  Pip and Lorraine were, as always, amazing.  There were some quiet moments for tears but also lots of fun and laughter on the way. Just as Rob would have wanted.

As we left Gretna we entered England! Hooray! It has taken us nearly 8 days to get there!  Lorraine’s fab route included some lovely cycle paths and lots of National Cycle Route 7. Negotiating The traffic systems at Carlisle was interesting and we had to be intrepid and go off piste a bit. 

Terry had a busy day in Preston trying to get Claire’s busted derailleur fixed. Good old Tel!

Now getting ready for our special evening on Rob’s birthday. 

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Ready for bed now after a lovely evening. Lots of the Rob’s Ride team had friends come up to Penrith and we were so pleased that our dear friends Pat and Mike could join us. 

Lorraine gave a very moving speech about Rob and how he wanted them to live life to the full and feel alive inside. The JOGLE ride was Rob’s way of making Lorraine, Pip and those who loved him do this. 

Thank you Rob.  Rest in peace.