On the 15^th April 2010 me and my good friend Tom ‘Ze German’ Frankel are going to embark on an adventure in aid of mine and Lee’s late Granddad, Eric Grindley. Eric passed away on the 3rd October 2008 at 4:22am due to kidney failure, which he had been battling for close to 12 years. These 12 years would not have been possible without the help of the staff at Hope Hospital Renal Unit. I would like to thank them for the 12 additional years we got to spend with Eric and to say thanks; we are raising money on their behalf.

 

Eric was one of the kindest people that you could ever wish to meet and he would go out of his way to help others without a second thought.  To me he has always been my best friend before he was my Granddad, hence the reason that I always called him Eric!  Some of my fondest childhood memories are when we used to spend hours and hours building things in his shed while Lee would quite happily just sit and knock hundreds of nails into a piece of wood!  There was no such word as ‘can’t’ with Eric as he always used to find a way!  Click 'Read More' to get the full story...

 

Up until his dying day Eric always made contributions to the Salford Renal Unit as well as other charities. Me and ‘Herms’ are going to continue his work on his behalf by raising money for Kidney Research .  Kidney failure can affect anyone from the eldest pensioner down to the youngest new born baby.

 

Our aim is to cycle 'door to door' from my current home in West Sussex back to our hometown of Irlam, . We are going to do this over 3 days averaging between 80 & 90 miles per day with the total journey being around 260 miles. The fact that I currently don’t own a bike and also that Tom is half German (?), should make this quite entertaining. We are going to video our journey and arrange a little bash on the Saturday evening when we should (hopefully) be arriving in .  The way Just Giving works is very helpful as they reclaim money for Gift Aid, an example would be that a charity would receive close to £12 from a £10 donation after any fee's are taken.  Because of this every penny helps so every donation is most welcome, no matter how small.

 

The Jargon:  Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

 

JOIN THE JOURNEY!  We would like to welcome people to join us on the final leg of our journey.  We will be arranging to meet people in the Green Dragon car park in Lymm on Saturday afternoon / evening to finish off our 260 mile adventure.  If you are interested in joining us either from the Green Dragon or any other stop along our route then get in touch.  I will aim to send a text update on the Saturday day to give people enough notice to get to a meeting point.  The more the merrier and there may even be a few beers waiting at the finish line!  Please note you will need to provide your own bike!

 

Please add this page to your favourites so that you can come back and read about our progress.  We will be updating the photos and diary regularly.  Call back to see how we are getting on!

 

Many thanks for your support and please forward this address onto anyone that may be interested in sponsoring us.

 

Seeks & Herms

 

Mark & Tom’s Diary leading up to and after 15^th April 2010.

 

02/08/2009 (MS) – Just Giving website opened for donation!

 

02/08/2009 (MS) – Photo's added!  Click on the photo link to the left of the page.  More to be added leading up to and during our adventure.

 

02/08/2009 (MS) – Update of our progress, Mark has been jogging on a regular basis but doesn’t own a bike, Tom owns a bike but is nowhere near as cool as Mark.

 

09/09/2009 (MS) – Mark went to Halfords to look at bikes.  He didn’t buy one, but it is a step in the right direction!

 

03/10/2009 (MS) – It was a year ago today that Eric passed away.  Over the past two weeks I have been going over in my head what I had been doing one year ago on that specific day.  I have been thinking about the last moments I got to spend with Eric and it has made me more determine to raise this money in his name.  I miss him more than anything and if I ever had any doubts about doing this, they have been cleared up over the last few weeks!

 

06/10/2009 (MS) – Thank you to everyone that has sponsored us so far!  An excellent start!

 

18/10/2010 (MS) – Training is going ok (ish) however I still dont own a bike.  I am jogging and playing football and Tom is still as German as ever so all is good.

 

27/10/2009 (MS) – Today my Aunty Alwyn passed away (Donated to 'Door to Door' on the 20/10/2009).  She was a wonderful lady and will be sadly missed.  I will be thinking of her when embarking on our adventure.  If I could show half her strength on the ride it would be a stroll in the park!

 

19/12/2009 (MS) – I ordered a bike today!  God bless the EDF Energy Cycle to Work Scheme!

 

21/12/2009 (MS) – Ok, when I ordered the bike (19/12/2009) I was slightly drunk and now thinking back, I am not quite sure what I have ordered.  Can you ride 200 mile on a unicycle?

 

01/01/2010 (MS) – Happy New Year one and all!

 

05/01/2010 (MS) – Right, been back into the shop and the bike seems ok (it has two wheels and everything) although when I tried to check the price on the interweb it is showing as a ladies bike!  It does look the part though and as long as it doesn't have pink tassels I am happy!  I am picking it up on Thursday evening.

 

07/01/2010 (MS) – Supposed to be picking my bike up tonight but due to weather conditions, I think I am going to have postponed it a few days!

 

21/01/2010 (MS) – I have got a bike, it has a bell and everything!  Oh, and despite the rumours it is not a girls bike.  Well it is, but it doesnt look like one.

 

13/02/2010 (MS) – Brighton and back today (thanks to Monty and Lou for the Brew).  Those South Downs are anything but down!  Don’t think I would have made it back if it wasn’t for a post office in Cuckfield selling pork pies!

 

20/02/2010 (MS) – We got to do our first bit of training together today and if this is anything to go by, God help us!  We only did 25 mile.  Tom gave me a puncture trying my bike out in the Farmers Arms Car Park, he gave himself a puncture going over Warbie Bridge, we then lost each other leaving me to arrive back at his house on my own and then when I went back to find him I got another puncture.

 

13/03/2010 (MS) – Arundel and back today (lovely castle).  Around 70 miles in total with some MASSIVE hills!  Tom is still German.

 

17/03/2010 (MS) – 1 month today!

 

19/03/2010 (MS) – Sod it; I am upping our target from £500 to £1000.  To hell with the consequences.  A big thank you to everyone who has sponsored us so far.

 

29/03/2010 (MS) – The first hotel is booked (this comes out of our pockets and not money donated to the charity) and it is bang on the 100 mile mark.  It is a place called The Unicorn Inn (www.unicorninn.net) just south of Banbury.  I have been speaking to a very helpful lady called Stella (same as the lager) who has given us a discounted room due to the fact that it is for charity and has asked the chef to make us a pack up to take with us the next day!  She has also imposed a curfew on us at the bar and ensured me that despite the building originating from the 17th century, there has never been any paranormal activity (I will hold you to that Stella).

 

08/04/2010 (MS) – Second Hotel confirmed!  This is the Rookes Nest Farm House (http://www.rooksnest.com/) situated close to the Staffordshire County Show Ground.  I have been speaking to a lady called Jackie who has provided us with a discounted room due to the fact that this is for charity.  Thank you Jackie!  The generosity of the people that are helping us with this ride either by putting us up in accommodation, giving us advise on our route or by providing moral support has been amazing.  I can’t thank them all enough!

 

12/04/2010 (MS) – Only 3 days to go now!  Tom’s bike is now down in West Sussex and he is expecting to follow on Wednesday afternoon (the lazy bugger decided to get the train down rather than cycle).  I am both nervous and excited!  We crossed the £1,000 mark today.  A MASSIVE (City Style) thank you to everyone that has donated!

 

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15/04/2010 – THIS IS IT, THE DAY OF THE RIDE...

 

0620am - Had our porridge and we were rearing to go, until I stepped outside and realised how ruddy cold it was!  Where has the sunshine gone?  Anyhow, suppose we better get on with it.  Tom has been moaning already.  In fact, he hasnt stopped since he got down here!  We are expecting to leave in about 10 mins so should all go well, we will try and update the website when we reach Reading.  Eye of the Tiger!  Roooooaaaaarrrrrrr!

 

1900pm - We have arrived in Deddington, approximately 10 miles south of Banbury.  And in plenty of time for the bar curfew! Today we've been through Rusper, Guildford, Woking (twice), Reading, Oxford and finally Deddington, and have done 104.2 miles without a single fatality.  It was bloody hard work but the pork pies pulled us through.  Got to do it all again tomorrow! 

 

16/04/2010 - DAY 2...

 

0700am - Time to do it all again.  Luckily no paranormal activity during the night, well except from Tom's snoring.

 

1130am - 40 miles done on day 2 and we have reached Coventry (a bit of a dive).  Tom has stopped off in Sainsburys for essentials - tissues, acai berries, frankfurters... Another 40 miles to do today.

 

1800pm - We arrived at our second hotel which was situated at the top of a hill (joy) in Stafford.  Felt much better today as we ensured that we ate every 10 miles as opposed to when we felt hungry!  The majority of the ride is now complete and we are NORTH of Birmingham!  Yippie Kia Yay!

 

17/04/2010 - DAY 3, The Home Straight...

 

0700am - Left our hotel in Stafford through the watchful eyes of Buzz, the local Buzzard who looked like he fancied his chances carrying one of us off (he was MASSIVE!).  Sun is shining and we are on the final leg of our journey.

 

0830am - Met Stew about 3 miles south of Stoke who is going to accompany us on the remainder of our journey.  At the same time Mike Willmott stopped to say hello on his way to the Derby.  Very nice to know that so many people are being so supportive!

 

0930am - Another companion for our remining few miles.  My Uncle John has cycled down from Manchester to meet us and now he is going to escort us back to Irlam!

 

0100pm - After a sneaky drink in Lymm we arrived outside the Green Dragon to a waiting mob of supporters.  After another sneaky pint, around 10 cyclists made their way to Mums house in Irlam.

 

0130pm - Arrived At Destination!  After 250 miles over 3 days we arrived at my Mum's house in Irlam (just in time to hear City throw away the Derby in injury time).  Despite the derby being played at the same time, there was quite a big crowd (of Blues & Reds) waiting to greet us.  Mum tried to spray us with champers but I think she got most of it over herself!

 

JOBS A GOOD UN...

 

After the first day I did have doubts about if we could make the full journey.  The first day was 105 miles over some big ruddy hills and it left us both short of energy.  It really did take it out of us, we were in bed for 9:30!  After a bit of advice from other keen cyclists we changed our eating pattern on the second day and it paid off big time!  Tom only moaned half as much as the first day (which was still 5 hours of moaning) and I felt a lot better myself, especially knowing the majority of the ride was complete!  It was typical that we cycled 250 miles and I felt fine however after a 10 minute break dancing competition with my 67 year old uncle at my Nan's 80th later that evening, I can no longer walk (my uncle won by the way)! 

 

Throughout our journey my phone did not stop beeping with texts and phone calls from people wishing us luck and asking how we were getting on.  The support we received has been amazing and I cannot thank everyone enough.  The money raised is well above the £500 I originally hoped for and I think, once collected it should be near the £2,000 mark.

 

I would also like to say a big thank you to Tom who against all odds, did this ride with me.  He was a trooper and despite moaning, we got there in the end (without a single puncture)!

 

Once again, I cannot thank you all enough for your support.  It means a lot to me and my family.

 

I hope we did you proud Eric.