Cycling In Support of Guts UK

On the 29th June Sanderson Weatherall’s team of 18 property professionals, set out on a coast to coast ride to raise money for Guts UK.

The journey took 3 days of strenuous cycling from Walney to Whitby. Though the challenge was difficult, they took it on with a fighting spirit.

They’ve done an outstanding job beating the challenge and have raised over £2,700.

18 property professionals from across Sanderson Weatherall’s office network have completed a charity cycle ride from Walney Island on the west coast, across to Whitby on the East coast.

The 180 mile ride was completed in just three days in support of Guts UK and the team have currently raised just over £2,700.

Simon Heather, partner in Sanderson Weatherall’s Manchester office and organiser of the annual trip said, “This year’s ride was amongst the toughest that we had done, with a number of challenging hills dotted throughout. As always we were absolutely delighted to have completed the trip as a team, at the end of the day it’s about grouping together and helping each other across the finish line. On behalf of the team, I would like to say thank you to everyone that has donated as the support that we received really does make all the hard work worthwhile.”

About the Ride

“This is the second time the firm have undertaken the W2W – the first time being in 2009 – when we opted for the shorter and slightly easier Wearside ending. This time, the group chose to do the alternative Whitby end to the route.

The first day’s riding was a bit of a shock to the system, as it is far tougher than many of the group were prepared and the climb up ‘Bigland’, a plateaued outcrop just before Cartmel, almost had a few of the group chucking the towel in early! After that, the route settled down a bit, which made for a very pleasant and scenic trip through Grange and onto Levens. We stayed the night at a funky bunkhouse called ‘Lumley Fee’ which is owned and run by the Wheatsheaf pub in Brigsteer, just a mile or so north of Levens and so slightly off the route.

At the start of Day 2, most of the riders got back to the route fairly easily by heading east from Brigsteer, down the hill and crossing the A591 – picking it up at Natland (although some of the purists re-joined at Levens so as to ensure none of the official route was missed out!). The weather brightened and a few blue gaps in the clouds started to appear. This was the day everyone has been bracing themselves for – about 70 undulating miles and the ascent of Tan Hill before tea. We took in a short, mid-day stop at the Chocolate Shop in Orton, and had lunch at Kirby Stephen. The actual ascent of Tan Hill is quite unusual – as it’s not particularly steep – just circa 7 miles of energy-sapping incline. The bonus of reaching the top is, of course the free wheel down towards Barnard Castle – which those in the group on a mountain bike particularly enjoyed although those on road bikes were left a little bit shaken-up.

For the start of Day 3 the weather was good, with plenty of blue sky and the wind to our backs. The terrain for the first part of the day is far less hilly than the previous two so the group moved at a good pace through the pretty countryside and villages of Teesside, stopping off for refreshments in Hutton Rudby and Great Ayton. After this things changed as we hit the North Yorks Moors, as you would expect there is a fair amount of steady climbing, but this seemed all too-cheaply given away in rapid down-hill bits. As such, the up/down/up/down nature becomes very noticeable and tiring. This continues almost all the way to Whitby – so the average pace over the last 25 miles or so dropped considerably from what we had been doing earlier in the day. Nevertheless, the entire group successfully reached the Whitby ending, with various levels of relief, to dip their wheels in the North Sea and gorge themselves on Fish & Chips.”