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Page 1 of 2 JAMES Clifton finished his epic cycle ride from Land's End to O'Groats—all 1,001 miles of it—in 15 days, raising money for sick children.
The British Waterways South East's employee raised almost £2,500 for the Pepper Foundation by his ride, that provides nursing care for sick children. Helped by the weather with only 20 minutes of rain all the way.
Support crew
 James Clifton writes: It was Jenny and Rob who kindly drove the bikes down to Lands End. He was my cycling partner and she (many months pregnant) was the ‘support crew', driving car and luggage between stops and cooking great suppers in the youth hostels where we stayed. We arrived in Cornwall on Saturday 9th April and cycled a quick 25 miles that afternoon—so that mentally we felt we had started—and to help calm the adrenalin that night.
 Relatively uneventful
We had no idea that the weather for the next 1,001 miles would be so kind—less than 20 minutes of rain over the entire fortnight. We burnt almost 30,000 calories and spent nearly 70 hours in the saddle.
The journey was relatively uneventful—I had only two slow-speed accidents—misjudging the space between two bollards on a cycle route and later forgetting to take my shoe out of the pedal clip before halting (slow-motion fall sideways!)
 Not all hard going
It wasn't all hard going. We did eat loads, to replace the calories used on the ride. It became a tradition to stop for tea and cake after about 30 miles each day. This on the island of Arran, was agreed to be the best cake for a thousand miles!
We cycled 100 miles in a day to Glen Nevis Youth Hostel just outside Fort William, and in the shadow of Ben Nevis, and I was shattered!
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