By Emily Carlill
A Farsley 12-year-old has completed his four-day bid to cycle from one coast to another to support a charity aiming to end bed poverty.
Jesse Carlill wants to ‘break the cycle of poverty’ by cycling 137 miles in aid of Zarach, which ensures children get the restful sleep they need by lifting them out of bed poverty. He’s raised £2,155 so far. Here, mum Emily, concludes a diary of his progress.
We arrived into Tynemouth yesterday at about 3.30pm after another two days cycling, completing our four days in total.
Day 3
After a grueling day on Sunday, the sun shone as we left Nenthead Monday morning, climbing another steep hill to Black Hill – the highest point of the C2C (1,998ft) and bumping into another group of cyclists and their established support team of guides, trailing vehicle and refreshments!
Entering Northumberland we cycled across across the tops of the North Pennines for a few miles before a decent into Allenhead, stopping for a hot chocolate before another climb out of the valley and into County Durham towards Rookhope then Stanhope.
Yet another final huge climb out of Stanhope, we finally left the road for a more gentle off road decent into the Waskerley Way where (very far in the distance), we could finally see the sea! Staying for the night near Consett.
Day 4
Final day! 29 miles to go and a much more gentler off-road ride along and old railway track out of Consett along the Derwent Walk Path heading towards Gateshead.
Stopped for a quick lunch near a waterfall by the River Derwent, before setting off again towards Gateshead. As the river flowed into the Tyne, we took the road bridge to the north bank route, the Hadrian’s Cycleway towards Newcastle and Tynemouth.
We arrived in Newcastle about lunch time so had to negotiate with lots of pedestrians along the river as we passed the series of bridges spanning the Tyne, the Glasshouse (formerly The Sage), and the Baltic centre.
Soon we arrived at the Tyne Tunnel with just a few more miles to go, then the DFDS ferries came into view as we finally reached the coast. The Tynemouth Priory was a welcome sign as we cycled the final off road path along the estuary towards the end of the C2C route.
Met by waving family, Jesse then dipped his bike wheels into the North Sea and celebrated with an ice cream.
Thanks to all the support from family, friends, friends or friends, neighbours, the Farsley community, colleagues, WLD, and Zarach, who have shared news of Jesse’s challenge these last few days, the total raised is currently at £2,155 and still raising! This means more children and get their own warm bed and good night’s sleep.
Jesse has been fantastic! He was getting tired of the climbs towards the end but every day he got up ready to go for the next part of the journey, and has never complained. We are really proud of him.
He’s now off for a full day swimming at Calypso Cove with Youth Club on Thursday, then a friend’s birthday sleepover on Friday. I wish I had his energy…
Donations
The Just Giving page is still open should anyone wish to contribute. You can make a donation here.