A very worthy cause

It’s the season for giving and, in this spirit, it’s only right to highlight an activity taking place between now and Christmas in support of an extremely worthy cause.  The latter is the Marie Carolan Fund (more details on that here) while the former is a sponsored bike ride by five lads which starts this Friday in London and is set to finish eight days and 800 kilometres (that’s 500 miles in old money) later in Belmullet.

As someone who knows all about taking the overland route back from London for the Christmas some years back, I can confirm what is screamingly obvious, i.e. that such an undertaking is not one for the faint-hearted.  I only ever undertook this trek with four wheels and a fair bit of horsepower under me and it was still a journey you were glad to get done with.  We’d normally head from London to Clare, leaving town well before rush hour to drive every inch of the M4 and a bit besides to get to Pembroke, then over four hours on the boat to Rosslare, followed by hours more driving, this time in the dark on unfamiliar Irish roads.

The lads are taking the Holyhead route – one I’ve done a few times too – and while it’s certainly a nice scenic journey (it’s the A5 all the way from Holyhead down to London, by the way, which partly explains why our lads colonised Kilburn: the High Road is where the A5 starts to meet central London), doing it on a bike in December will certainly be no picnic.  Those Belmullet men are certainly a breed apart!

But it is all in a good cause and if anyone wants to make a contribution to the Fund, there are a few ways to do it.  If you’re based in the UK, then you can make a lodgment direct to the Fund’s bank account (the details of which are on the image above – just click on it to enlarge it).  Alternatively, you can email them at themariecarolanfund@yahoo.co.uk or check out http://www.bebo.com/TheMarieCarolE.

On your bikes, lads!

2 thoughts on “A very worthy cause

  1. WJ,

    A bit short notice I know, but just to let you know that the next Club Mayo-Dublin members draw takes place tomorrow (Thurs 11th Dec) in Bewleys Hotel out near Dublin Airport. Directions are up on the website http://www.clubmayo.ie.

    I know a lot of people are knee-deep in the Xmas party season so results of the draw will be posted up on the website on Friday for those who can’t make it.

    We are going to try and get all prizewinners their cheques before Christmas also.

    Thanks for your mentions of us throughout the year. Roll on 2009!

    Club Mayo-Dublin.

  2. I saw the notice on the website last night. I’ll do a quick post on it now.

    Likewise, thanks for all the plugs you’ve given me on the site over there during the year.

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