L2E Cycle Ride

Quintessentially Foundation will be hosting an annual cycling challenge from 20-24^th July 2011.  The London to Edinburgh cycle ride will take 100 participants 468 miles in order to aid The Place2Be.  The Place2Be is a school-based counselling service dedicated to improving the emotional well being of children, their families and the whole school community.  The funds raised by Quintessentially Foundation fund the Croydon and Enfield hubs.  Our fundraising target is an impressive £500,000.

The five trip will go as follows:

Day 1: We will be meeting at Alexandra Palace in London at 6:30 am for registration and will begin the journey at 7:30 am.  We will head north towards Potters Bar and will travel through Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.  We will have lunch at Caxton, 54 miles in, and arrive at our hotel in the heart of Peterborough for our overnight stay.

Day 2: After an early breakfast we set off through the city and through the Lincolnshire Fens situated between the Humber and the Wash.  Huge expanses of its countryside and coast are still undeveloped drawing wildlife and bird watchers.  We will be cycling along quiet roads and really get to feel how peaceful and unspoilt the area is.  We arrive at our overnight accommodations in Broughton which is a spa hotel where you can relax after a long day in the saddle.

Day 3: We start the day with an early breakfast and crossing the Humber Suspension Bridge which “opened up” two previously remote areas of England allowing them to realise their potential in commercial, industrial and tourist development.  We will have lunch in Malton at 58 miles and continue to our overnight accommodations 6 miles outside Middlesborough.

Day 4: Our journey today takes us first to Sedgefield (Tony Blair’s constituency) and then we begin climbing up the moors.  We will have lunch at 65 miles in Stamfordham.  Our destination for the day is Alnwick, the market town in Northumberland with its castle, oft referred to as “The Windsor of the North”.

Day 5: Our final day of cycling takes us over the border and into Scotland.  Crossing the Lammermuir Hills we stop at Gifford for lunch before the final stretch to the wonderful city of Edinburgh.  We finish close to Arthur’s Seat and Holyrood Palace with great views and plenty of space for the whole group.