January 2019

John O'Groats to Land's End Charity Rides 2014-2018 

(Roger's Charity Rides  for Prostate Cancer UK)

I'm pleased to announce that the Ebook & Paperback versions of my charity rides are now available on Amazon.co.uk and .com

JOHN O’GROATS TO LAND’S END CHARITY RIDE 

IN AID OF PROSTATE CANCER UK

It’s a question I’m often asked. 

Like everybody else, I knew about cancer, but it was something that affected other people, not me and was never part of my own family’s history.

The direct impact that cancer had on me was in 2001, when, Lynn, a dear female friend died of lung cancer in her late forties. She’d smoked since she was fifteen, and when she found out that she had contracted cancer, she rang and asked me to take over the management of her pub business in the Dales. Her husband and my friend too, had passed away a few years before with a related disease. I dropped everything and rode over. Nine months afterwards, she died in my arms. 

In intervening years, many of my friends have died of this illness, but I was so engrossed in chasing financially lucrative contracts, that I allowed time to pass me by before doing something about it.

My girlfriend’s dog, Charlie, tragically died of bowel cancer on a weekend, when we were out for a walk with him at Temple Newsam. He started to bleed profusely. We took him to the vet and he was put down. 

It brought all kinds of sad memories flooding back, of my friends and my girlfriend’s father, who had also died of prostate cancer. That was when I decided to act.

My first ride in 2014, was for Charlie and my friends Harry, Jim, Darren, Alex, Chester, John, Paul, Andy and some of whom are still battling on.

My chosen journey was influenced by Henry Cole's inspirational ride from John O'Groats to Land's End in his TV series "World's Greatest Motorcycle Rides".