In our first Pedal to parkrun community post, we tell the amazing story of Harry and Nicolas.
In the summer of 2023, 9-year-old Harry Peksa and his dad Nicolas cycled 1,300 miles from John O’Groats to Land’s End (JOGLE). As if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, they also completed four parkruns along the way!
The intrepid pair spent 35 days on their epic adventure, raising money for Tiggywinkles, because of Harry’s love of hedgehogs.
They set off from John O’Groats on 1 August, Harry on his 7-speed mountain bike and his dad towing Tiggy the trailer. They cycled the length of Scotland via the Hebrides, through the North West of England, along the Welsh border, and down into the South West to finish their adventure on 4 September.
Scotland
After leaving John O’Groats, the first week saw Harry and Nicolas tackle the wild north coast of Scotland, before they caught the ferry from Ullapool to Stornoway on the island of Lewis.
On day 5, they arrived at Lews Castle parkrun.
They got there nice and early and found themselves ravaged by midges. They were told by the run director that they were the worst they had been all summer! Harry and his dad both loved the course, which was in a beautiful setting and even included some caves partway round.
The journey continued down through the Hebrides before crossing briefly back into mainland Scotland, onto Arran, and back to the mainland again.
Nicolas got really sick on day 6. In their blog, he describes it as the full blown murderous screaming type of sickness. Not able to eat anything, he pushed on with the day’s cycling and ferry journey with very low energy levels. Harry summed it up with: Today was a very quiet day as daddy was miserable. I was not sick on the ferry and we managed to game the vending machine.
Thankfully a good night’s sleep made a big difference.
Day 10 was just one of those days! First Harry got a puncture, and then his chain jumped off the back cassette and embedded itself into the spokes. The wheel wouldn’t come off and the chain wouldn’t come out. Nicolas tried using tools to move the chain, but everything failed. Thankfully the kindness of strangers came to the rescue and the duo were able to get on the move again.
They continued through Scotland for the next three days.
England (and a tiny bit of Wales)
On day 16, Harry and Nicolas cycled into England. After battling the traffic of Carlisle, they treated themselves to a Dominoes. Harry’s reflections on the day were: I ate so much pizza I can’t stand up. Daddy should not have left the pizza with me. The birds in the hotel were funny, as the lady on reception is scared of birds. We got a room without a bath. I’m so disappointed. Let’s hope I can have a bath tomorrow.
The pair continued to head south. They stopped off at various points of interest along the way, making good use of their National Trust and English Heritage memberships.
On day 19 they reached Lancaster parkrun, their second of the trip.
Harry was pretty exhausted on arrival, having already cycled a speedy 10 miles to get there. After a few minutes to recover he was announced as a special guest and invited to say a few words about the trip and his fundraising during the briefing. It was a hilly course and at some point the pair managed to go the wrong way and add a bit extra on. Thankfully the lovely friendly volunteers helped to cheer them on as they finished their 5.25km parkrun! The post-parkrun bacon bap went down well.
They pressed on south along the Welsh border passing through Liverpool, Chester, Shrewsbury, and Bridgenorth, to reach the Forest of Dean.
They made lots of stop-offs on the way to have fun, including getting lost in a maize maze, exploring a medieval castle, and finding delicious treats at an ice cream factory.
Day 26 was a “rest day” in the Forest of Dean. The kind of rest day that involves a parkrun, anyway!
This time the chosen venue was Mallards Pike parkrun, which the pair got a lift to from Harry’s grandparents’ house. Harry gave the hilly event an 8 out of 10, saying that the marshals and all the volunteers were very friendly and supportive. He also stated that the bacon butty afterwards was the best one of the trip so far.
The final leg of the trip took the pair down into the South West. They set off for Bristol on day 27 when they encountered punctures on both Harry’s bike and the trailer, a route closure, and an issue with their hotel booking that meant that they had to find somewhere else to stay. Fortunately things got better after that.
In Somerset they enjoyed canal paths and winding country lanes, before pressing on through Devon and into Cornwall where the hills got bigger and bigger.
On Day 33 they made it to Eden Project parkrun!
They had about an hour’s ride in the morning before arriving at the main entrance…at the top of another hill. The parkrun was full of tourists – there were were more than 100 people at the first timers’ briefing! The course was three laps, each with one sharp uphill and plenty of downhill. After the run they enjoyed a bacon butty (of course!) and then spent some time exploring the Eden Project. Then it was back on the bikes to finish the day by cycling to Truro.
Harry said: The Eden Project was very cool with tons of species of plants and different flowers. I was a bit embarrassed when everyone at the Parkrun gave me a clap for my cycling, as they ran round, everybody was shouting go Harry.
The last two days of the trip took the Peksas from Truro to Longrock, then finally to Land’s End, their final destination.
What an achievement.
Reflections
Over the past five years, Harry and Nicolas have been on five different adventures together. They have had many laughs, an occasional meltdown, and have spent many hours in remote, but beautiful places.
On this trip, Harry’s highlights were learning how to solve two different Rubiks cubes, the 10 mile downhill near Glentrool, Cheddar Gorge, Vatersay and Lydford Gorge. Nicolas loved that they could just go and visit whatever they wanted as long as it was on the route. His highlights included Blackrock curries, ferry hopping between islands, and spending quality time with Harry.
We can’t really finish this blog without giving a special mention to Harry’s prowess (some might say obsession) with the Rubik’s cube. This was a massive feature of their trip.
Nicolas reflected: A standard cycling day involves at least an hour’s conversation revolving around Rubik’s cubes. Whether it’s a 2 x 2, a 4×4 or a 3 x 3. Sometimes he talks about Megaminxs, jodamink, or even the rubix clock. he also passionately talks about cubing championships. Did you know that they removed the category of solving Rubik’s cubes with your feet this year?
Here are two highlights from their blog:
When writing about Lancaster parkrun, Nicolas said: Harry really loved sitting with the park runners as some of them were interested in the Rubik’s cube. Harry timed himself and he can solve the Rubik’s cube in two minutes and 15 seconds. Harry tried to teach a few other people to solve the cube, and I had a chuckle as I could talk to some of the other adults about things that don’t involve Rubik’s cubes.
On day 21, Harry said: I have been practising Rubik’s cube a lot today, daddy has threatened to throw my Rubik’s cube in the river. Maybe I should only try to mention it less than 100 times tomorrow.
Find out more
Harry and Nicolas shared their JOGLE journey on Facebook and Instagram. Follow them to find out more about this trip and any they have planned for the future:
https://www.facebook.com/JogLe2023/
https://instagram.com/hedgyharry2023
To make a donation to Harry’s charity, Tiggywinkles, you can visit: