The 4000-mile country-wide cycling journey from Bristol

Two of Bristol’s best known personal trainers, Paul Waters and Lou Alldis, are half-way through an epic 4000-mile cycle ride of the UK in aid of The Mental Health Foundation and the Woodlands Trust. This week they reached Cape Wrath, after pedaling 1500 miles from Bristol. Now they start the journey homeward.

Lou explains her thoughts behind the journey

“My Grandad’s favourite saying was ‘life is for living’. This isn’t something that most of us have been able to do recently during the pandemic, and it’s safe to say that it has been a stressful time for most people. At the start of lockdown, my Grandad passed away peacefully at the grand old age of 93. While it was his time to go, not being able to see him in those last few weeks was exceedingly hard and I miss him dearly. He did, however, leave me with something that I am so very proud of – a sense of adventure and an endless curiosity for life. He was a keen traveller; rambler; adventurer; writer of potty poems; giver of the best hugs and just the most incredible Grandad. Part of this fundraising is in his memory as he would have loved the adventure and was a keen supporter of the Woodland Trust and loved being outside exploring.”

Paul shares Lou’s lust for adventure and is keen to raise money for two charities close to his heart. Recently, Paul’s dad Bill has struggled with anxiety and depression, something he’s gone through a number of times in his adult life. This time though, with all the things going on in the world, he attempted suicide.

Thankfully, he is OK, and Paul has been staying with his parents most of the time since. Bill has been getting great support and has made vast strides forward.

“We are hugely proud of him for battling hard to overcome this and so pleased to see him getting back much closer to his usual self – full of spark and wit (even though his jokes are terrible). Aside from all this, we’ve experienced the stresses that so many people have faced recently – a difficult house sale and losing our work and income due to the virus. We decided a few weeks ago when we sold our house not to take on another place yet and use this opportunity to have a break, reset and do something truly memorable.” Paul Waters

Paul and Lou are aiming to cycle around every single National Park (15) and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England, Wales and mainland Scotland. They are calling it ‘A Ride in the Park’ and we estimate it’ll be just over 4,000 miles and take 2-3 months.

“We want to share with you our beautiful little island and show how jam-packed with amazing places it is. We want to show you just how important those places are for our wellbeing. We want to share with you how vital it is, we get out into those spaces and move, and we want everyone to recognise that we all face mental health challenges in our hectic world, but that there’s always something within our power to help fight these and keep ourselves balanced”