The Bevan family have very kindly chosen us as one of four charities to benefit from their fundraising challenge. They are dear friends of the Lloyd family and we are excited to follow their progress!

And without further ado… we present, BEV500!

With lockdown bringing all the Bevans back the UK, and the two doctors in the family needing some time off, we got thinking about something positive and different we could do in the British Isles. So, we found one week at the end of July/beginning of August to squeeze in 500 miles on our bikes, in 7 days. There were a number of charities that we wished we could all do more for, and so the planning began. 

Why the NC500?

Starting at Inverness Castle, the 516 mile circular route takes us over to and up the West coast of Scotland, over the highest road pass in the UK (Bealach na Bà – pictured above in 2015 when we were mad enough to cycle it on rusty old bikes), through the coastal villages of Applecross, Gairloch and Lochinver, along Sutherland’s tourquoise beaches of Sango Bay, Balnakeil, and Dunnett Bay to John O’Groats, and then down the East coast over Berriedale Braes back to Inverness. 7 days, 516 miles, and 34,000 ft of ascent (greater than Mt. Everest!).

Averaging 70-80 miles a day for 7 days straight, with endless amounts of hills, it certainly won’t be easy, and we definitely haven’t done enough training! Not to mention that in our R&R time off the bikes we will all be squeezing into one campervan, sheltering from the likely wind, rain, and Scotland’s famous midges.

Our planned day-by-day routes have been mapped out. If interested, you can click on each day to take you to the planned route on Strava (Dad’s new-found favourite app – give him a follow and kudos!).