Sorry, I'm probably posting this in the wrong place.
This Sunday, 26th April, Roynie and I are setting off on a bit of an adventure. We’re riding from Inagh, our home in the West of Ireland, to China. Hence, the aptly-named “Inagh to China Motorcycle Ride”, as the two place names rhyme!
The idea started as an casual remark at my cousin’s wedding in 2012. We were just back from our 2011 “Moscow to Moscow” ride, so when the groom’s brother, Champagne glass in hand, suggested we should ride out and see him in Shanghai, we ... err ... readily agreed.
Later that year, as we began our planning, we heard of the tragic death of William Winder, a local lad from Miltown Malbay, who had taken his own life at the age of 15. Almost immediately, his parents set up a charitable foundation in his memory, to help other children who were experiencing mental health issues and who might be similarly at risk.
To his friends, William seemed such an unlikely suicide victim. He was a kind and popular boy who enjoyed a challenge and who had, the previous year, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya. We decided that our ride would present an ideal opportunity to honour his memory and raise some money for the William Winder Rainbow Foundation. We’re also fundraising for Young Minds, a uniquely child-centred mental health charity which, though based in the UK, offers a wealth of online information aimed at children and their parents.
We’ll catch the ferry to Cherbourg on Sunday evening and ride through mainland Europe into Russia, then into Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. In Kyrgyzstan, we’ll be joining up with Globebusters’ “Ace to Ace” Expedition, crossing into Western China at the Torugart Pass, then riding east with them to Beijing. The Globebusters group fly home from Beijing, but we will turn around and start our return, overland, via Mongolia and the Trans-Siberian Highway. The whole round trip of nearly 30,000km (18,500 miles) should take us approximately four months.
You can follow our travels by liking our “Inagh to China Motorcycle Ride” Facebook page, via Twitter “Inagh to China @brigidrynne”, or via our own blog at www.inaghtochina.com.
ALSO, if anyone is at a loose end/in the neighbourhood this weekend, we're having a bit of a send-off at Dillons Bar and Restaurant in Inagh from 12 noon on Sunday. (We leave at 1.30pm, to be sure of catching the 6pm ferry from Rosslare.) We'd be delighted to see you.
Naturally, we would be extremely grateful for all support, and donations can be made direct to either charity via our Charities page.
Wish us luck!
This Sunday, 26th April, Roynie and I are setting off on a bit of an adventure. We’re riding from Inagh, our home in the West of Ireland, to China. Hence, the aptly-named “Inagh to China Motorcycle Ride”, as the two place names rhyme!
The idea started as an casual remark at my cousin’s wedding in 2012. We were just back from our 2011 “Moscow to Moscow” ride, so when the groom’s brother, Champagne glass in hand, suggested we should ride out and see him in Shanghai, we ... err ... readily agreed.
Later that year, as we began our planning, we heard of the tragic death of William Winder, a local lad from Miltown Malbay, who had taken his own life at the age of 15. Almost immediately, his parents set up a charitable foundation in his memory, to help other children who were experiencing mental health issues and who might be similarly at risk.
To his friends, William seemed such an unlikely suicide victim. He was a kind and popular boy who enjoyed a challenge and who had, the previous year, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya. We decided that our ride would present an ideal opportunity to honour his memory and raise some money for the William Winder Rainbow Foundation. We’re also fundraising for Young Minds, a uniquely child-centred mental health charity which, though based in the UK, offers a wealth of online information aimed at children and their parents.
We’ll catch the ferry to Cherbourg on Sunday evening and ride through mainland Europe into Russia, then into Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. In Kyrgyzstan, we’ll be joining up with Globebusters’ “Ace to Ace” Expedition, crossing into Western China at the Torugart Pass, then riding east with them to Beijing. The Globebusters group fly home from Beijing, but we will turn around and start our return, overland, via Mongolia and the Trans-Siberian Highway. The whole round trip of nearly 30,000km (18,500 miles) should take us approximately four months.
You can follow our travels by liking our “Inagh to China Motorcycle Ride” Facebook page, via Twitter “Inagh to China @brigidrynne”, or via our own blog at www.inaghtochina.com.
ALSO, if anyone is at a loose end/in the neighbourhood this weekend, we're having a bit of a send-off at Dillons Bar and Restaurant in Inagh from 12 noon on Sunday. (We leave at 1.30pm, to be sure of catching the 6pm ferry from Rosslare.) We'd be delighted to see you.
Naturally, we would be extremely grateful for all support, and donations can be made direct to either charity via our Charities page.
Wish us luck!
