I'm a double cancer survivor, cyclist and walker who does various challenges for different charities, mainly cancer-related.

In 2016 I climbed every single 'Birkett' in the Lake District - all 542 fells over 1,000' within the National Park, including all 214 Wainwrights. I've also done a three-week cycle tour of Tasmania in February 2015 and amongst other things, I've cycled from Land's End to John o'Groats (2003), Rotterdam to Lemvig (Denmark) (2005), walked the Pennine Way (2008) completed (my first) ascent of all 214 'Wainwrights' in the Lake District in only 55 days (2009), cycled 4,500 miles around the coast of Great Britain (2011), cycled all 42 of the accessible Western Isles of Scotland in under a month (2012), twice abseiled 230 ft from the top of The Big One in Blackpool, cycled the WWI Western Front from London to Compiegne via Ypres and Arras (2014), cycled 750 miles in the Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton (2014), done a bit of sky-diving and cycled Australia's Great Ocean Road - just before lockdown in 2020.

Altogether I've raised over £120,000 for my charities including The Christie, Cancer Research UK, the Rosemere Cancer Foundation, and ABF (The Soldiers' Charity) and I was mightily chuffed to receive the British Empire Medal in the 2014 New Year's Honours List.

I'm a Rotarian and give illustrated talks about my adventures in exchange for a donation to charity, so if you're looking for a speaker leave me a message. I am also Event Organiser for the Ribble Valley Ride Cycle Sportive, to be held this year on Sunday 5 September 2021 - more details at www.ribblevalleyride.org

You can also follow me on Twitter - @CancerBikeMan and on Facebook - just search for Bill Honeywell

Cancer Research UK is the world's leading charity dedicated to beating cancer through research, whilst The Rosemere does fantastic work for patients in Lancashire and South Cumbria.

Tuesday 12 July 2011

Day 61 – Gowerton to Pembrey

18 miles; total 3,892 miles

A lie-in!  -  Shortest day of the whole trip  -  I got bored!!  -  I also got my hair cut.

Schedules are governed by various different things, and today it was the availability of caravan sites.  A slightly longer day would have been ideal but the only real choice of an overnight stop was here at Pembrey, so a mere 13 miles was the scheduled distance. I know, I know, hardly worth getting out of bed for.

Actually, the biggest problem was finding something to do – having to be away from one site no later than 10 am, and not wanting to arrive at the next before noon – with only an hour’s cycling in between.  So I dawdled a bit, then explored a cycle path along the Burry Inlet and had a cursory look at the Wildlife and Wetland Trust Centre.


















But before that, I was contacted by another Twitterer:  @Antz_e, otherwise known as Anthony Evans, called by on his way out for a morning tour of the Gower, introduced himself and made a welcome donation to Cancer Research UK.  It’s a good job he didn’t want to ride with me, as he would have been bored rigid!!































The roads around Llanelli, Burry Port and Pembrey were remarkably quiet. I followed the signs for the Harbour at Burry Port but they just led to the edge of the salt marsh, which seemed odd.



































Pembrey Country Park is a big area of woodland, heath and dunes: there are signs of wartime activity here – pill boxes and bunkers still in view, and I think there was an airport. Now it’s a popular leisure area with long beaches.  I loitered around here for a while to pass the time before going to the caravan site, where, after lunch,

I GOT MY HAIR CUT!!!

Bernadette very kindly mowed my out-of-control locks, which hadn’t had any attention for the last nine weeks.  Now, after a number 2, I’m a lot tidier and possibly somewhat lighter. She also applied the same treatment to my beard (I’ve never had a beard long enough for a trim before!) so I’m looking pretty dapper! But not smart enough for a photo – I don’t want to lose any readers!

I then gave the bike a good check-over, which reminded me that Ian Hardy had sent me a photograph of Richard, just after he’d extracted the broken cable end from my gear shifters last week.  It’s a very delicate job – note the two pairs of glasses!


Back to normal tomorrow – 67 miles with plenty of ups and downs will take me to Pembroke – I’m approaching another absolutely beautiful part of the country, and looking forward to it.

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