Carymoor Ride The Wind Challenge

Ride the Wind Challenge

Ride the Wind Challenge trip diary

On the 16th August 2004 Graham Jennings (Education Officer), Julia Percy (Community Conservation Officer) and Emma Waters (Waste Action Officer) set off on the Ride The Wind Challenge Graham sets-off from Carymoor - he looks cheerful enough, does he know what's in store?	Day 1 Lands End > Little Torrington After arriving at Lands End and doing the compulsory signpost photo, Graham set off in glorious sunshine; this lasted all of 20 minutes before torrential rain set in for the day! Home made fruit cake and donated muesli bars kept the energy levels up, and although the absence of clear sign posting meant Graham did an extra 6 miles all up hill, we all sat down to a wonderful cook dinner at 7.30pm by Sarah at Great Potheridge. Miles Ridden: 116.6 Punctures: 1

Day 2 Little Torrington > Pinkery > Yenworthy > Nettlecombe > Yeovil 8.00am wake up call, first puncture, and its still raining! Graham set off at 10.15am after a break in the weather. Arrived at Pinkery Outdoor Education Centre to a warm welcome, a fantastic centre which is powered completely by alternative energy!	Yenworthy Lodge Outdoor Education Centre owed by Oxford LEA was our second stop of the day; Graham had to wait here for his trusty backup crew who had managed to get lost! Still in glorious sunshine Graham pushed onto the last centre of the day Nettlecombe Court, a grand manor house owned by the field studies council and used for residential courses. Arrived back in our own homes for a good nights rest at 7.30pm. Miles Ridden: 105.4

Day 3 Yeovil > Carymoor > Malvern Hills Outdoor Centre Arrived at Carymoor for 10.00am to pick up more supplies and do the first fill up of vegetable oil! The car holds 55 litres of oil, and does 600 miles to the tank! Wonderful weather meant a carefree journey up to and over the second Severn bridge. Although, a slight argument with a cycle-path resulted in a bloody knee and a bent back finger! An early finish as Graham arrived at the Malvern Hills Outdoor Centre at 6.30pm. The wonderful Eve Jones gave us free accommodation in a 6 bedroomed log cabin, free hot food and sandwiches for the next day! A quick pit stop at the local pub for some liquid refreshment, before crashing into our luxury accommodation. Miles Ridden: 114.3 First Aid Incidents: 1	Day 4 Malvern Hills > Bishops Wood > Wyre Forest Discovery Centre> Rising Sun Hotel (Peak District) Left in the sun but soon hit the rain! First stop Bishops Wood Environmental Education Centre (Worcs) this centre is funded by the National Grid, and displays a beautifully manicured turf roof. Wyre Forest Discovery Centre, voted favourite centre of the trip by Emma and Julia, has a beautiful position deep in the forest, with amazing classrooms guaranteed to inspire any child. A quick fruitcake exchange with Graham in a phone box (Sheltering from now monsoon conditions!) left us free to investigate our camping barn accommodation. A stone shed, no windows and an outside tap in the middle of a flooded field did not look appealing! Now on a mission Julia drove to the nearest town and after a mad dash in and out of several fully booked hotels, we managed to secure rooms at the Rising Sun Hotel, a bit of an upgrade from the stone barn! Miles Ridden: 85.9
Wyre Forest Discovery Centre
Graham's Diary [with some additions from Emma and Julia] .............. Day 5 Peak District >Losehill Hall > Penwortham > Preston Eco Church A fantastic start to the day as The Rising Sun donated us several litres of oil, and Graham left in the sun! On a mission to collect a new set of bike tyres, we navigated around Preston town centre three times with 4 lots of helpful directions, before eventually arriving at 'Ripple Cycles'. The shopping list comprised of two new tyres and dust caps, accidentally left on a bench in the Peak District! Arrived at Penwortham Environmental Education Centre at 7pm for a quick photo. Spent the night in St Michaels Church, the first Eco-Church in the UK. Miles Ridden: 121.4 Graham's comments - It was dry, Hooray!, but chilly! Nice start even though it was hilly! An energy draining morning. Meet Richard at Losehill Hall, that was lovely, followed by a not so lovely hill at Winnets Pass! Emma and Julia have a guilt complex as they arrive at Losehill Hall 20 mins after me due to an addiction to book shops! Dramatic scenery over the peaks, and wonderful sunshine!! Lunch at a set of traffic lights. Hard work for 3 hours, and then I hit a flat patch. Interesting scenery as we entered the industrial North West. Had an incident free ride to Penwortham. Julia and Emma hugged a tree at Appleton Thorn, which is a relation to the Glastonbury Thorn. A warm welcome from the first Eco-church! St Michaels Church in Preston. We were fed by Emma's family, a large thank-you goes out to Elaine, Andrew, Molly and Olivia for the use of their house and shower and to Janice for a traditional Lancashire Hotpot. We even got invited to a BBQ. Sleeping tonight in St Michaels Church Hall, which has its own recycling centre, although we do have to keep an ear out for the illegal recycling of the church's lead roof! Day 6 Preston > Castle Head > Blencathra > Todhills An early morning call from the Vicar and a donation of organic marmalade from the church members meant we all left in fine spirits and arrived at Castle Head Field Centre (Cumbria) by 12.00 noon. Blencathera Centre was reached by 3.30pm after waiting for several herds of sheep to cross the road. Booked a family room in Carlisle and rewarded ourselves with Pizza and alcohol! Miles Ridden: 120.8 Castlehead
Emma, Graham and Julia Day 7 Todhills > Glasgow Donation of oil from theLittle Chef and an Olympic Breakfast for Graham started the day with a smile! Morrisons of Carlisle donated 18 litres of oil and set us on the way to the Scottish border. Graham spent the day on the A74 an empty road which provided beautiful views of the Scottish Lowlands. A lack of signposts in Glasgow caused navigation nightmares for Graham, as Julia and Emma got hot flushes attempting to follow the tangle of motorway ring-roads! Grahams desire to leave Glasgow behind, meant he had to be collected and brought back 20 miles to our accommodation in Clydebank that night! Miles Ridden: 119 Day 8 Glasgow > Ardroy > Onich Drizzle and grey skies greeted us in the morning, but soon broke into blue skies and fluffy white clouds. A long climb up the 'Rest and Be Thankful' hill brought us into Ardroy for 12 noon. A swarm of cheerful children meet us at the centre, welcoming Graham as a celebrity! A massive picnic lunch was donated and if it wasn't for the ever biting Scottish midges I am sure we wouldn't have moved from this idyllic spot. The sudden appearance of the summer weather made our search for accommodation more of a survival mission, and at 8pm the position looked bleak. Our lucky break appeared in the form of a brand new bunkhouse, which even came equipped with a steam room! Miles Ridden: 117 Day 9 Onich > Carbisdale Castle Early morning to bump-up the miles meant Safeway in Fort William had just opened when we walked in to scrounge another 24 litres of vegi oil to fill up the car. Saw Ben Nevis in the beautiful sunshine, a quick detour en route meant the backup crew met the owl from Harry Potter! After convincing Graham to make a slight detour from his route, we booked ourselves into Carbisdale Castle. This is the grandest Youth Hostel in the UK and comes complete with marble statues, sweeping stair cases and 300 year old ghosts! Miles Ridden: 114.5 Day 10 Carbisdale Castle > John O'Groats Packed up and ready to go at 9.45am, a breakfast of Chocolate Cake provided added energy for our last day. Lots of photos of Graham with lochs and highland cattle! After passing the massive Dounreay Nuclear Power Site the complaints of visual pollution from wind turbines seem insignificant. At 4.50pm Graham arrived at John O'Groats, welcomed by Julia waving a bottle of champagne and Emma battling to video the triumphant moment! The journey totalled a staggering 1119 miles, incorporating 12 eco-centres, 1 puncture, 1 set of new tyres a bent finger and cut knee. Miles Ridden: 104.1 Total Miles for the trip: 1119.0 The journey home comprised of excited chatter about what challenge Graham would complete next year, ranging from cycling and canoeing across Europe to navigating the Australian outback, any other suggestions would be gratefully received! A massive thank you goes out to all the staff in the office, our sponsors in the local area, and all those companies and individuals who helped us along the way; we really couldn't have done it without your support! Emma Waters SWAP Officer

The Route
The Carymoor Ride the Wind Challenge called at the following centres:

Pinkery Outdoor Education Centre, Simonsbath, Somerset.

Yenworthy Lodge Outdoor Education Centre, Oare, Lynton, N.Devon.

The Leonard Wills Field Centre, Nettlecombe Court, Williton, Taunton, Somerset.

Carymoor Environmental Trust, Dimmer Lane, Castle Cary, Somerset.
Malvern Hills Outdoor Centre, Old Hollow, Worcs.

Bishops Wood Environmental Education Centre, Crossway Green, Worcs.
Wyre Forest Discovery Centre, Callow Hill, Worcs.

Losehill Hall, Castleton, Derbyshire

Penwortham Environmental Education Centre, Horwick Cross Lane, Penwortham, Preston.

Castle Head Field Centre, Grange-Oversands, Cumbria.

Blencathra Centre, Lake District National Park, Threlkeld, Cumbria.

Ardroy Outdoor Education Centre, Lochgoilhead, Argyll.

@ Carymoor Environmental Trust Updated September 2004