Injury has thwarted a 67-year old’s Land’s End to John O’Groats cycle challenge – but she has still managed to raise £2,500 for Dementia UK.
Stephanie Cooke, of Congleton, was on the final leg of the 1,000-mile LeJog route in Scotland, having already cycled around 700 miles, when disaster struck.
After stopping for a breather, she was climbing back on her fully loaded bike when she overbalanced and crashed to the floor.
Nursing a badly injured leg in the middle of nowhere, she decided to pitch her tent and remained there for 24 hours.
She said: “I was hoping my knee would get better but realistically I knew it was a bad break, and knew I had to get to hospital.
“I was fortunate, as the only place that was open for miles around was a community café hub. I sat in there for hours with a bag of frozen chips on my knee.”
She was able to use her phone on the café’s wi-fi and dialled 111. An ambulance was dispatched.
She was taken to hospital in Dumfries where an X-ray and CT scan revealed she had fractured her patella (kneecap).
“They were very good but I needed admitting and was fitted with a brace to my injured leg, which I will have to wear for eight weeks,” said Mrs Cooke.
As the “Chronicle” previously reported, Mrs Cooke had embarked on the LeJog cycle challenge for Dementia UK as her 68-year-old brother Andrew Spiers developed the condition in his 50s.
She is his full-time carer at their home in West Heath and a live-in carer was looking after him while she was taking on the challenge.
Mrs Cooke was in the remote village of Eskdale Muir in Dumfries and Galloway last Saturday, having cycled almost 700 miles from Land’s End, when she fell off her bike.
Speaking from north of the border as she began her long recovery, she described what happened.
“I was getting back onto my bike after a breather. I had a full load on and I overbalanced and went over and landed with all my weight on my knee. It was down to fatigue. I was exhausted.”
She said she didn’t contact anyone back home about what had happened until a few days later, as she didn’t want to worry her brother.
Mr Cooke had to order a “giant taxi” to go and collect her bike and camping gear, which she had managed to store in a shed behind the café.
She stayed in the Lockerbie area for a few nights and was due to return to Congleton by train yesterday (Wednesday).
“I’ve made loads of friends while staying in Lockerbie,” she said. Looking back on her cycle challenge, she said: “I was completely unprepared and it left me so tired.”
She added: “It’s been an adventure and a test of resourcefulness!”
(Photos: Stephanie Cooke).
