Twins Ride+Stride 'a million miles'

Robert and William were just 2 of 100s of people who took part in this year's Ride+Stride for the Historic Churches Trusts in Dorset and Wiltshire.

Read their letter, with photos, here

On their ride, they learnt that Russian churches face south instead of east, that the River Nile is in Africa not Wiltshire, and they also met a cow who had issues with the colour red.

Ride+Stride raises much needed funds to support the historic churches in our Diocese.

The twins set out on their bike ride from their own Church, St Thomas's Church in Salisbury, accompanied by their Mum and friend Fiona.

This is their story:

"We cycled 26 miles to 8 different churches. It took us 6 hours! It felt like a million. Sometimes we did not want to do it because our legs got very tired and because we got hurt. The reason we carried on was mostly the jellybeans. They gave us loads of power!

"Also, if we gave up, we would have felt really bad. We would have let down St Thomas’s and all the other churches.

"The first church we stopped at was an Italianate church in Wilton. It was designed by a Russian person, and in Russia churches face south instead of east, because Jerusalem is south of Russia.

"The road we cycled along was very busy at first, and then as we started getting deeper into the countryside,
there was less congestion and bustle. The road ran between the river Wylye and the river Nile (or is that in Africa?).

"We saw olden-day trains from the 1960s, and modern trains transporting people and things. We met some men waiting for the 1960s train to come so they could take a picture of it, because they didn’t have anything better to do.

"We saw a an enormous,fat, brown and white bull without horns, and we reckoned it had anger issues with red."

The twins cycled as far as St Mary’s Church in Wylye.

William said:

“On our way back I really hurt myself going down a hill when I suddenly used the wrong brake, which controlled the front wheel. It made my bike flip and I landed on my ribcage. It really hurt, and I really hurt my hands. We still had ten miles to go, so I kept going. I wanted to get home because my feet were aching, so we could have a nice rest.”

Robert added:

“When we were cycling, I went too close to some blackberry bushes and got a thorn in my arm. It did not hurt apart from when it suddenly went into my arm and then the hurting stopped. We had to keep cycling to a safe place to stop and pull it out”.

"Finally, we got to St Thomas’s. They had two choices of cake. Fiona, our Churchwarden, showed us an interesting thing about an old diagram of the church. It shows that there once were 3 fire engines in the corner of the church. Who knew!"

The twins have raised at least £1,104 pounds so far from neighbours and the people at St Thomas’s.

Read their full account, with photos, here