THE Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North, has cycled through all 14 deaneries in his diocese in a single day, pausing in each to evangelise, pray, or take a faculty assembly — an 80-mile feat of endurance which he described on Monday as “fabulous fun”.
He was raising awareness and funds for the Bishop’s Harvest Appeal. Proceeds will go to projects within the link diocese of Free State in South Africa; it’s hoped that these will exceed last 12 months’s appeal total of £23,000.
Each stage of the ten-hour “Pedal-along”, which Bishop North undertook with the diocesan HR manager, Andy Cooke, was meticulously timed. The pair began at St Luke’s, Slyne, with Hest, in Tunstall deanery, at 8 a.m. on Saturday, and via those of Lancaster and Morecambe, Garstang, Poulton, Blackpool, Kirkham, Preston, Leyland, Chorley, Blackburn with Darwen, Whalley, Accrington, and Burnley, finished at St Anne’s, Fence, in Pendle deanery.
Along the best way, each area dean had written a prayer for the Bishop to convey to the subsequent deanery. Parishes and schools were encouraged to organise their very own “pedal-along” and to post their very own pictures of the ride on social media.
Philip NorthBishop North is welcomed to his final stop, Fence St Anne in Pendle, with a glass of whisky
“It was a great distance, and really labor — much harder than I expected. I’d barely been on my bike since July,” Bishop North said. “But to see the entire diocese in a single cycle ride was wonderful, and the heat of the welcome hugely encouraging.
“In one place, every child in the varsity had made a South African flag, and there have been 100 of those waving as we rode in. People in Blackburn are very supportive of the project, and amazingly generous.”
The hardest leg of the route, he said, had been the last stretch, which took the pair into the terrain around Pendle Hill — “a protracted, long, steep cycle in traffic, and really, very hilly”. He paid tribute to Mr Cooke: “Alan is an actual cyclist, a correct cyclist. But he had this horrible habit of beginning a conversation at the highest of the hill, once you just desired to die.”
They were greeted at Fence with “large glasses of Glenmorangie”. Donations to the appeal might be made in some ways, including en route because the support vehicle carried a contactless giving machine. “We’re shameless,” he agreed. “Absolutely shameless.”
He will give you the option to see footage of the entire ride, on video captured by the Go-Pro camera on his helmet.
