Please sponsor Jeanie Pelling who is cycling 318 miles in aid of Cowes Sailability Club!
Nurse Jeanie Pelling is planning an epic cycle ride from the island of Anglesey in North Wales to the Isle of Wight in Southern England to raise funds for Cowes Sailability Club. The 318-mile journey will take her through the Black Mountains, over the Severn Bridge and across the Salisbury Plain, in what will undoubtedly be the biggest physical and endurance challenge of her life.
The money raised by Jeanie during this ambitious cycle ride will be used by Cowes Sailability Club to provide accessible sailing activities for people with a wide range of disabilities on the Isle of Wight. Anyone can make a donation by visiting the Cowes Sailability Club website or Jeanie’s Just Giving Page.
Jeanie began volunteering with Cowes Sailability Club around four years ago. However, as she has since moved to the mainland, she is unable to help out on the boats as regularly as she did before. “Cowes Sailability Club is a wonderful charity and I will never forget seeing the pure joy that people with disabilities experience when they have the opportunity to go out on sailing boats,” she says. “This cycle ride is my way of continuing to support Cowes Sailability Club and helping to make it possible for many more people with disabilities to enjoy sailing.”
As Jeanie explains, this is not her first fundraising venture. “I have undertaken previous activities for charity fundraising, including the London Marathon, the London to Brighton cycle ride and the Portsmouth 10K – but none have been as ambitious as my planned Anglesey to Cowes cycle ride,” she says. “I know it is going to be hard, particularly given that I am now 65, but I’ve been training, I am well supported and I can’t wait to get started!”
“We are absolutely amazed and delighted by Jeanie’s fundraising plans!” says Roger Sutton, Cowes Sailability Club’s Commodore. “Jeanie volunteered regularly for Cowes Sailability Club for several years when she lived on the Isle of Wight, helping disabled people on and off the water and operating our patrol boat. It is absolutely fantastic that she is now taking on this massive cycling challenge to help raise funds for the club.”
“318 miles is such a long way, even for an experienced cyclist!” he adds. “I hope lots and lots of people will sponsor her, to encourage her along the way and make all her hard work worthwhile.”
Jeanie’s cycling adventure will begin, fittingly, at SEAS (Supporting and Enabling Accessible Sailing) in Plas Newydd, LLanfairpwllgwyngyll, Anglesey on 13th May 2023. After crossing the Menai Straits, she will initially cycle down the west coast of Wales to Barmouth and then head east towards the Elan Valley, the Black Mountains and Tintern, north of Chepstow. She plans to cross the Severn Bridge, pick up the ‘Two Tunnels Greenway’ cycle path south of Bath and then continue via Shearwater, Salisbury and Southampton to Hamble. From there she will cross the Solent to Cowes, continuing to cycle whilst crossing the water.
The entire journey is expected to take six or seven days with Jeanie cycling around 50 miles per day, depending on the terrain. A particularly challenging part of the route will be at around the 155 mile mark, when Jeannie will need to climb 1,575 feet just north of Abergavenny. For safety, she will be supported along the way by a friend in a campervan and she will use two bikes – one suitable for roads and one suitable for gravel.
Please show your support for Jeanie’s fundraising challenge by clicking on the link below and making a donation to Cowes Sailability Club.