Cycling the length of the UK for my grandparents

Hi all,

It’s been a really tough month. We lost 3 grandparents within 2 weeks around late June, both grandads on the same day. Our mum (who also broke her arm days before all this) lost her dad, James Shakeshaft, who was adamant he was a direct descendant of Shakespeare, which explains his eloquent swearing. Our dad lost both his parents. Bob Redding, nicknamed Grandad Flintstone because of the striking resemblance, and Peggy Redding, the funniest and most hard-working little Irish woman you could meet.

So on 11th August, in an effort to have some good come out of all this, I’m going to cycle the length of the UK for Care Rights UK, from Land’s End in Cornwall to John O Groats at the northern tip of Scotland, wild camping instead of shelling out for accommodation.

Still need to decide on the exact route, but it’ll be between 1400 and 1900km. It’s gonna be interesting, as I’m doing it on a folding bike, something people are at pains to point out is not the best choice. I’ve also got a dodgy knee and am not exactly used to wild camping.

Why Care Rights UK as the benefactor? Because the lack of understanding on what rights our family had when organising and accessing care in recent times has been and continues to be very stressful. It would have been amazing for us to have gotten the kind of advice given by Care Rights UK, and I would like to help them be even more proactive in reaching out to those who may need it.

Why the UK and why wild camping? Well, I’ve travelled a decent amount in recent years, and it’s dawned on me how little I’ve seen of my home country. Part of this is definitely to do with how expensive it is. Wild camping is the only feasible choice while not working and attempting to make a living writing books.

So yh, if you can spare some dough, I'd really appreciate it. Cheers - now go and tell your nearest and dearest you love em