Coast-to-coast 4-day bike ride for Help for Heroes

Enduring numerous punctures, crashes and saddle sore, our reduced team of five cyclists completed their coast-to-coast 4-day bike ride raising a fantastic £6,000 for our brave service men and women (and the total is still rising).

How did they do it? Here’s a snippet of the day-by-day action...

Day 1
Setting off from St Bees in Cumbria with a wheel in the Irish Sea, the first days aim was to cycle a whopping 60 miles up mountains, through rivers, along tracks and across the moors. The first puncture was clocked by Matt Antell before the ride even started, not long followed by the first crash by Dan Little only 20 miles in. A gashed leg and broken iPod later the team went from sheep filled roads to mountain tracks where they had to carry their bikes for several hours through the Black Swan Pass. Rain and wind awaited their decent in to Ullswater, as did Dan’s second crash, landing him in a bog covered in mud!
13 hours after leaving St Bees the team got a well deserved rest...

Day 2 and 3
Averaging 48 miles per day the team pushed on through stunning scenery, taking on horrendous climbs and sheep filled trails without any major incident. A stopover in the highest Inn in Great Britain – the Tan Hill – awaited them, meeting the world famous rude landlady!

Day 4
With a staggering 156 miles completed already, saddle sore and exhaustion was setting in – but no rest for the wicked, the team had to complete the final 49 miles along the steep inclines of the North Sea Coastline. With the North Sea close enough to touch for most of the days cycling, the team breathed a huge sigh of relief when they arrived at Robin Hoods Bay around 3.30pm... just enough time to get in a couple of celebratory drinks before closing time!

Big congratulations go to our team of cyclists – Matthew Williams, Dan Little, Gareth Roberts, Matt Antell and Matt King – and all the support team. A fantastic personal achievement and an amazing collection of sponsorship to add to our ever growing H4H fundraising total! WELL DONE!