One of our members, Sue Murphy and her husband Simon have just returned from an tremendous 4000 mile bike ride taking them through France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark, across to Sweden and then cycling around the coast of Norway to Bergen in the north. Not content with that they then flew to Scotland where they cycled the Shetland Isles and Highlands before travelling back down the East coast home – an amazing 14 week journey Well done Sue and Simon.
Sue, a keen East Devon birder ,admits to having her binoculars in her bar bag ready for use which helped get her another six “lifers”. Exmouth birder Sue’s remarkable journey and adventures are written up on her Blog complete with stunning photos.
Although a much shorter journey another of our East Devon members, Gavin Haig, recently took part in the gruelling 112 mile Moor 2 Sea bike ride listed as “extreme” – knowing the Dartmoor hills I believe this is not an understatement.
The first 28 miles were fairly straight forward but then came the climb to Haytor. Stage 6 of the Tour of Britain finishes at the summit on September 20th. The climb is 3.7 miles long and features in the book 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs, the Moor 2 Sea organisers were offering a prestigious ‘King of the Mountain’ badge to everyone who managed it in less than 26 minutes. As we know the Dartmoor hills go on unrelentingly but Gavin managed to stay cycling and after 90 miles round about Postbridge he got his “second wind” and completed his epic ride in a very respectable 8hr:57mins 14 secs giving him a well earned Bronze medal – and yes he did also get his King of the Mountain badge too!
Well done to both our biking birders who also find time to help out as our volunteers.
