About the challenge
Our CEO takes on an epic cycling pilgrimage, visiting over 100 choirs across England and Wales in just 50 days of cycling. This mammoth challenge covers a whopping 2,700 miles, with JJ raising much-needed funds for cathedral music along the way.
Hear from JJ: “I’m raising vital funds for Cathedral Music Trust, so we can continue to support cathedral musicians and choirs through our programmes – including the Cathedral Music Support Programme and Church Choir Award. In 2024, we invested £500,000 in the sector, giving grants to 28 Anglican and Roman Catholic music departments across the UK.”
Blog
“Leg 2: Did somebody say hills?”
1 July 2025
Days 5-11: Lancaster to Lichfield, via the Isle of Man, the North West and North Wales
- Distance Covered: 430 miles (running total = 606 miles)
- Height Gained: 23,000 feet (33,299 feet to date)
- Choral foundations visited: 15 (should have been 16, but I had my first navigation fail of the trip, using the wrong post-code for St Michael’s Tenbury…huge apologies to them!)
- Mechanical failures: 2 (one puncture, one broken chain, within half an hour of each other. Brutal.)
The ferry to the Isle of Man
It only occurred to me as I was heading on the train from London back up to Lancaster for the start of Leg 2, that the seven days ahead of me accounted for the longest (though, perhaps surprisingly, not the hilliest) leg of my Choral Adventure, averaging 62 miles each day. I’ve never tried riding this far before. To say I was daunted as I made my way across to the Isle of Man the following morning is an understatement. So, it feels appropriate that my reflections on this part of the pilgrimage are principally around the kindness and hospitality of friends and strangers that helped me to keep going.
Seven days of cycling also meant seven nights away from home, and I was hugely fortunate to spend five of those with some wonderful hosts connected to cathedrals and churches in Douglas, Manchester, Chester, Wrexham and Hereford. The hospitality and generosity I encountered was immense and meant that any hopes I had for losing some body-weight were squashed by the copious quantities of cheese and cake consumed. It also meant that, after long days in the saddle, I had the pleasure of delightful company in the evenings – as well as one memorably fun and delicious lunch at Shrewsbury Catholic Cathedral. What a joy to be able to share conversation and mutual passions for the cathedral music tradition everywhere I went!
The kindness of strangers was also particularly welcome, when, at various times, I found myself soaked through (thanks Lancashire…), with oily hands having tried to fix a broken chain in Shropshire (the offer of a sink and washing up liquid was gratefully received and the appearance of the mobile cycle-repair service was nothing short of miraculous) and for company on the road just when I was running out of steam – especial thanks to Fran Wilson, Lay Clerk at Lichfield Cathedral and cyclist extraordinaire.
All of this leads me to a reflection of how our magnificent choral tradition doesn’t just require physical resources, training and spaces. It needs those things in abundance, of course. But for great music to be sustained, it requires above all things, great people. People who care deeply, who engage passionately, and who share their talents generously. This pilgrimage, just 11 days in to the 50, has afforded me the opportunity to meet so many of them. Thank you all, for your support for me, but most importantly, for the ways in which you all help sustain great music-making!
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