On July 25th 2008 Trevor and I set off on, what proved to be, an amazing journey.  Our goal to cycle from Lands End to John O'Groats in three weeks to raise money for Let's Face It and Macmillan Cancer Support, in honour of my Dad, George Thompson, who lost his brave fight against mouth cancer in October 2007.  My sister Sue and friend Vanessa were our support crew, driving a motor home kindly provided by my husband's company and emblazoned with the logo telling the world what we were doing.  Setting off at 7:30am on a beautiful day from Lands End we were both excited and nervous, full of anticipation of what lay ahead.  By day three, on approaching Exeter Racecourse, we were hot, bothered and our legs throbbed.  Would we ever make it?

The next day was cooler and pleasant, but hilly days around the Lake District followed with visits from friends and family along the way to keep us going.  Surviving being chased by a sheepdog and being escorted off a busy road by the police, who thought our lives would be in jeopardy on too hectic a road, we had to change route plans, but we cycled on through beautiful landscapes and villages.

People donated money en route to our charity and were very supportive and encouraging.  As soon as we headed into Scotland the weather took a dramatic change for the worst and we found ourselves cycling in torrential rain for eight hours a day, in water proofs that did not stand a chance and we were permanently soaked to the skin.  We were often cold and despondent on these days, the scenery could not be viewed and the road ahead was long, hilly and winding.  However, a little reminder of Dad and his ever presence on our journey kept us going - a pub named King George, a museum called Fort George, a removal van with the logo "Dad's", a hill called George's View reminded us of why we were there, at that time and at that place...  

   Dad, like many others who suffer terribly during illness, had amazing strength of character, mind and perseverance despite all the odds stacked up against him.  Dad's spirit and strength was the wind behind us, not in front of us.  It was the rainbow we saw on the horizon and it was the warm welcome at the end of our day's toil.  If Dad could cope with all that he had to cope with then our small discomfort was a minor inconvenience - easily resolved by grit and determination.

Outside Edinburgh we were surrounded by flood water and were starting to panic as we got colder and wetter.  We considered sheltering in a nearby farmhouse, when, like the Angel of the North, out of the middle of nowhere the support wagon arrived.  They took a wrong turn in their effort to rescue us and we likewise.  Having seen no cars for twenty miles, the chances of the two of us meeting was somewhat of a miracle.  But then again miracles do happen.

From Edinburgh we continued the long trek up to the Highlands with some sunny days, which lightened our spirits and dried our clothes.  On August 15th hand in hand we descended the long hill onto John O'Groat's - relieved but elated that we had completed our mission.  Dad, I knew would be very proud of our achievements.  Over the course of our planning, training and subsequent journey, we have been amazed at the generosity of people, who have been kind, sincere and very supportive.  To date we have raised £9,700.00 towards our goal of £10,000.00 and money is still coming in.  We have appeared on local radio and in the newspaper and people have stopped us in the street and asked how we are doing.

The journey has been both long and hard, but we have agreed that what we have learnt from the experience will stay with us for the rest of our lives - in face, although Trev said the cycle was going in the shed, I got a sneaky feeling that our next journey will not be too long in the planning...