Laurence Oliver raised over £1670 in support of his mother’s mistletoe therapy at CWT
with his spontaneous 820 mile adventure!

We spoke to Laurence about his memorable experience with his friend, Tom Haddad:

What inspired you to choose this challenge? And route?

It was all very spontaneous really. I sat down with a coffee one morning to find a message from my friend Tom about an upcoming tour of one of our favourite bands. When we realised that the London shows were sold out we began looking further afield and before I even had a chance to finish my coffee we had two tickets for System of a Down in Berlin and the crazy plan of cycling there.

Have you done anything like this before?

Never!

How did you find the fundraising aspect?

Highly rewarding and massively encouraging. It was far easier than I anticipated to get people on board and spread awareness of CWT and Mistletoe Therapy UK; the figures soon started going up.

There were many days where the thought of hopping back on the saddle would give me shivers but when you know you have so many people supporting you, it makes it that little easier to conjure up the motivation you need to crack on.

What was your most memorable moment?

With so many eventful days (and nights) its hard to know where to begin… getting stuck in the middle of rural France without water in mid-30 degree heat, Tom accidentally riding into a competitive cycle event in Ommon, being ambushed by wild horses in the middle of nowhere, getting locked out of our hotel on the first night or the recurring embarrassing act of trying to mime out ‘chamois cream’ to cycle shop assistants only to receive very bewildered looks.

Would you do it again?

Yes. Providing that this time I didn’t use a road bike that was too small for me on a route that turned out to be 70% off-road! We also both realised that camping along the way would have been far more practical let alone much cheaper. Tom is already talking about a bike trip across America!

Laurence’s mother, Katherine, shares her feelings:

I’m very proud of his amazing achievement and judging from his scenic photos along the way, I imagine he has some happy memories of his trip!

Discover different ways to support Mistletoe Therapy UK by visiting our Support Us page.