Gerard McKinney completes charity cycle ride on Wild Atlantic Way
Congratulations to our director Gerard McKinney on completing the Birmingham Irish Cycle Appeal (BICA) 600-mile charity ride on the west coast of Ireland, from Mizen Head in Cork on up to Malin Head in Donegal.
The challenge was held to raise money for small charities and individuals including Midwifery Bereavement Facilities (Birmingham Women’s & UHCW Hospitals), Birmingham Hospice, Soft UK and Kingsbury SEN Academy, along with several smaller Irish charities providing care for children.
Gerard has so far collected £1,250 on his personal page and you can still donate here. The overall BICA fundraising target has now reached nearly £44,000!!
Below is Gerard’s day to day account of the challenge – it’s a great read!
We arrived down at Mizen Head after 21 hours of travelling, but all still eager to set off on the first leg of the journey. A short 30 miles back to the hotel in Bantry, with a bit of rain to let us know about things to come. Hard to knock the views though. Next day it’s on up through the Cork and Kerry mountains…yep, stand and deliver. We then went on through the stunning Gap of Dunloe and on to Tralee.
On Sunday we headed up through Kerry to the Talbert ferry and across into Clare. From there it was out to the coast and on to the Cliffs of Moher. That was a fairly tough climb into a strong headwind, but the views were well worth it before heading on to Ballyvaughan.
The miracle happened on Monday…sunshine, well sunshine with some cloud. We headed off into Galway and around the city, through Salthill heading west to Spiddal, where we turned north for Maam Cross. The Connemara countryside is stunning, if somewhat barren. We were greeted by; mountains, rivers, lochs, and stone, oh and more stone! From there it was on to Leenaun and the 10-mile long Killary Fjord. A quick stop at the cemetery where one of my uncles looks out along the fjord and on up to Westport and a day’s rest.
On Wednesday we were off again into the wet and wind. On through Mayo, Sligo and briefly through Leitrim to Bundoran in Donegal. The next day we headed from Bundoran to Donegal town and up to Rathmullen for the ferry to Buncrana where my father was born. The day started wet but we soon had the best of weather to take in the sights and I loved the ride along the coast to Rathmullen, where we managed a pint before the ferry arrived.
The final day of riding arrived, think that saddened us all a little. But we soon had to put all thoughts of that to bed as we headed up through the hills of Donegal. Quite a bit of climbing in a relatively short day with the brutal Mamore Gap being the pinnacle in more ways than one! A few fit souls could head directly up this climb with sections of 17% and 20% plus. But most of us just settled into the grind weaving from side to side, with our front wheel lifting from the road on occasion and with curses flying if vehicles got in the way forcing us straight up the mountain. But we made it! And then on down the winding fall on the other side past St Colmcille’s Well. A beautiful ride out to Malin Head with a stiff climb to the finish. A few beers and a few tears and we were done.
The ride was great but the I took more than that away from the experience. It was hard to forget the reason that BICA was set up in the first place, to help small local charities. And we were reminded of one such charity by one of our fellow riders, Jo O’Sullivan of UHCW. We are raising funds for the UHCW University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Maternity Bereavement Suite and Jo reminded us that no matter how horrific the wind, rain and saddle soreness might be, it is nothing compared to the pain that parents have to go through when having to give birth to a stillborn baby whilst listening to the cries of other newborns around them. The funds will help to provide a soundproofed unit away from the labour ward to allow time for grieving and family support.
A huge thank you to the support team for keeping us so well fed and watered, to Joe and Michelle for the organization and inspiration, and a our mechanic Mat Judd of Back on Two Wheels who gave up all of his time for free – we’d have been a few short at the finish without him. thanks also to Eddie O'Connor of Bishop Challenor School who provided the minibuses.
Most of all, the thing I took out of the experience was new, strengthened, and I hope lasting friendships. Finally, thank you all for your very generous donations.
For more details contact Gerard: gerard@hubtransportplanning.co.uk