Midweek Update - "All Things Are Go"

Okay, so it is nearly a week from when I confirmed I would be taking on the CCSCC, having considered it only subconsciously for a great deal longer but everything's go go go at the moment and seems to be a bit of a whirlwind.

The sponsorship page has started to tick along nicely with some considerable individual donations already contributing to the target of £1500. My thanks go out to Lali, Judy, Will and the Stanley family. 

For those of you who wish to pledge your support, you can do this by simply visiting www.virginmoneygiving.com/CCSCC and clicking 'donate now'. Alternatively for those technophobes amongst us cheques are equally welcome, please make them out to: Severn Area Rescue Association and hand to myself - it will all go in a big pot towards the £1500 target so we don't want to miss out those all important contributions because 'every little (really does) help'.

The South Wales Argus have shown their support too by agreeing to publish an article in the local press advertising the CCSCC - Melissa Jones (@ArgusMJones) has been brilliant in her support and I must apologise for my constant rearranging of the article photo shoot.

The Co-operative Group have also shown their support by accepting my application for their 'Booster Fund' which effectively pledges a further £100 to SARA upon completion of the CCSCC route.

So, the organisation and planning remains ongoing (endless it seems) yet with only 22 days to go before I start peddling my way to Edinburgh it must be done and undoubtedly will lead to a hectic few weeks until then.

Happy reading.

Planning, Planning, Planning

Yesterday involved training ride number 3 along the following route: Monmouth-Hereford-Leominster-Ledbury-Ross on Wye and back to Monmouth. It totalled 72 miles taking 6 hours on the dot to complete. 

Today though, is where the real energy has been spent. I have been chasing up leads for sponsorship, accommodation and media coverage alongside creating this blog for those of you who wish to follow my preparations, trials and tribulations throughout the challenge. Due to being newly acquainted with the blogosphere this has taken an unusually long time but I'll hopefully be up and running with some photo's and videos along the way.

If anyone has any particular fundraising ideas that may be of interest, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

Thanks

The Route

Route: London-Wembley-Chippenham-Cardiff-Llanelli-Fishguard-Rosslaer-Dublin-Rostrevor-Belfast-Cairnryan-Edinburgh

Welcome to my CCSCC Blog

If you are reading this, I would like to say thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. As a first time blogger I will do my best to keep you all updated with the 'goings on' of the preparation before, during and after my solo cycle ride around the Capital cities of the UK and ROI in aid of the Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA) charity. (Registered Charity: 505504)

SARA are an Inshore Rescue boat and Land Search organisation covering the Severn Estuary, upper reaches of the River Severn, and the rivers Wye, Bristol Avon, Tewkesbury Avon and Usk. SARA is one of the largest independent lifeboat services in the UK, second only to the RNLI, with 16 operational boats, 12 Mobile Response Units, 4 stations, approximately 150 volunteer personnel and is funded entirely by public donations.

I joined SARA in October 2012 as a probationary crew member and have been in training at the Beachley Station on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and every Sunday since then in a bid to become fully operational as soon as possible in the three specialist disciplines: Lifeboats, Land Search & Swift-water Rescue.

It may seem ambitious, but I have set the fundraising bar quite high at £1500 for this challenge - which I expect to take 9 days cycling over 600-700 miles with an extra day for the Fishguard-Rosslare and Belfast-Cairnryan ferries.

Please sponsor me using the following link: www.virginmoneygiving.com/CCSCC

For any other information about SARA as an organisation - www.sara-rescue.org.uk

Thank you for reading.

Rich