Father and son Tom and Ken Alford have completed their second major sponsored ride in aid of the CLIC Sargent appeal for children’s cancer.
The pedalling pair, from Hale, raised £524 in a three-day, 290km ride from Morecambe to Bridlington along the idyllic Way of the Roses coast-to-coast route.
Tom, 45, Head of IT Procurement at Manchester Airport and Ken, 16, a student in the St Ambrose College Sixth Form in Hale Barns, have been cycling together for five years, spending their Sundays winding through the Cheshire Plains and Peak District to keep fit and have fun.
They first put their hobby to profitable use when they cycled the 225km from Emmerich, the last major town in North Western Germany, to the Hook of Holland in just three days in the summer of 2014, but the British challenge was altogether tougher.
Tom said: “The first day was really quite hard work as we cycled up hill for what seemed like one long climb, but going through the Yorkshire Dales on the second day and down to the East Coast was a bit easier.”
Ken added: “Dad did do a bit of a vanishing act on day one. He got smaller and smaller on back view camera and actually would sometimes disappear altogether only to pop up again.”
The intrepid father and son are now planning a major expedition before Ken, who wants to study architecture, goes off to university.
They have their sights set on either Lands End to John O’Groats or the entire Rhine from Switzerland to the North Sea. Tom said: “I quite fancy the Rhine, It’s actually pretty much downhill all the way.”
The CLIC Sargent appeal is Manchester Airport’s designated chairty and is also close to many hearts at St Ambrose College, where mum Sam works as a Food Technology Teacher.
