About The Girls
Janie Cooksley, 40 and Pat Smith (young at heart) are planning to cycle from John O Groats to Land's End in April 2006. We both live near St Austell and are involved in tourism businesses. Janie and her husband Mike run a highly successful and individual Guest House near Heligan Gardens offering not only wonderful food but holistic massage and complementary therapies with a gym room and hot tub for extra pampering! See more at www.bosue.co.uk
It is so good that they won National AA Guest of the Year in 2005.
Pat and her husband Dave run equally successful Bosinver Farm Cottages at Polgooth between St Austell and Mevagissey. There are 19 individual detached cottages in a hidden valley of 30 acres with swimming pool, tennis court and fishing lake. See more at www.bosinver.co.uk.
They have also been rewarded for their efforts by winning 'Self Catering Establishment of the Year' 2005 in the Cornwall Tourism Awards.
Both Janie and Pat are outdoor people and met at a local aerobics class and immediately became good friends due to their shared interests and sense of fun. Pat has cycled for years but Janie is a relative newcomer to the sport, having had to give up running due to a back problem.
Janie's incentive to undertake this ride was losing her father to cancer 2 years ago. She decided then to raise money for a specific charity each year, taking part in a Triathlon last year and donating a free holiday in aid of the Sunrise Appeal.
Pat's motivation is a desire to 'give something back' to her local community after a happy and successful life in her beloved adopted county of Cornwall. She has travelled widely but has never found another place to match what Cornwall has to offer and loves living here.
Why a 1000 mile cycle ride?
We thought we would like to do something physical that we could enjoy whilst raising money at the same time and what better way than covering the length of the British Isles? We have chosen a scenic route, following Loch Lomond and Loch Ness, along the west coast of Scotland, through Herefordshire and the Wye Valley via Chepstow and Monmouth, over the Severn bridge and Following the A38 home. We are planning to cycle through several towns on the way back through Cornwall and hopefully people will give us moral support and even cycle parts of the route with us as we head for Land's End. We anticipate that it will take 2-3 weeks, cycling 50-70 miles per day. Pat's only stipulation was no camping - a comfortable bed, a shower and clothes washing facilities and no carrying of luggage on the bikes. This meant an extra body with a backup vehicle and a long term friend has been cajoled into being our driver. Her name is Carol Gibbs, who sadly lost her dear husband Steve to a brain tumour last year, so has a link to the cause.
