spirit Incredible journey The RNLI’s Chief Executive spent an especially productive Summer last year. Carol Waterkeyn finds out how A senior manager takes a cycle ride. Quite unremarkable until you realise that the man in question is the RNLI’s 63-year-old Chief Executive, Andrew Freemantle cbe, and that the ride took in 1,230 spectacular but gruelling miles from Headquarters in Dorset to Rome. Andrew was raising funds for the memorial and garden newly planned for the home of the RNLI in Poole. They will be a celebration of all the RNLI people who have made such an impact on the charity and its work through its 184- year history – especially those who have lost their lives saving others.

Andrew explains: ‘We realised that, although there are memorials around the coast dedicated to individuals or particular crews, there is no one, single place to remember and record the names of them all. When I discussed this with my colleagues, the Trustees and the RNLI Council, everyone agreed it was a good idea but we knew we couldn’t use our regular funds, which are given for saving lives. We would need to raise the money separately. And so it was that three ex-service friends and I planned an epic cycle ride. Unlike the others I hadn’t done much cycling before, so the training and subsequent ride were a bit hard on the old bottom – even though I was the bambino of the group!’ Their preparation over, the intrepid four set off on 31 August. The Chief Executive had booked 3 weeks’ annual leave in which to complete the trip. The task was to cover at least 60 miles a day, a goal they met with an average of 64 a day, at around 12.8 miles per hour.

This was despite the challenges of the Massif Central and the Alps. With the Mistral, the infamous icy wind behind them, they even managed to take a day off.

One thing the friends did not have to worry about was eating too many calories – frequent meals and snacks were all exercised off while the group worked to keep up their water intake. ‘The weather was very kind to us. When we reached Siena, we found a beautiful mediaeval city with cobbled streets and a marvellous piazza, gorgeous historic churches and fantastic ice cream,’ enthuses Andrew: ‘We wanted to stop.’ ‘Our crews and lifeguards do difficult and uncomfortable things everyday so I feel it is the least I can do ...’ With a French and Italian speaker among them, lodgings were usually arranged a day or so ahead by mobile phone.

The laundry routine became to wash their cycling gear each evening and hang it to dry where they could.

The legendary warm welcome offered to cyclists on tour in France and Italy proved true: hotel managers happily secured their bikes, and other road users were generally considerate. There were some rather scary moments in the road tunnels with enormous lorries rushing past. But Andrew’s worst moment was when one of his tyres blew out on the Alps. ‘Luckily I was not travelling fast downhill at the time. It went “bang” like a shotgun and the tyre and inner tube completely split.’ He used an emergency replacement for a couple of days until he could find a suitable new tyre. Kicking his bike in frustration, threatening to throw it in the Tiber and other Basil Fawlty behaviour was fortunately rare.

Reaching Rome was a particularly special experience.

The sight of the Coliseum after the daily slog up mountains, down narrow tracks and across cobbles was an emotional moment. The night before, all four adventurers had met up with their wives 25 miles north of their destination.

The ladies then drove ahead to meet the jubilant but tired cyclists as they made their grand entrance onto St Peter’s Square in front of the Vatican. It was very moving for them all at the end of such an unusual and taxing ‘holiday’.

So far the Chief Executive’s efforts have raised almost £50,000 in sponsorship, with several thousand more being raised by his friends. What would he think to doing it all again? ‘I would be happy to do something else worthwhile to raise money for this project. Our crews and lifeguards do difficult and uncomfortable things every day so I feel it is the least I can do to repay them. Lance Armstrong, the cyclist who won the Tour de France seven times having conquered cancer, wrote in his autobiography that: “cycling is uncomfortable; your butt and everything else hurts.” I can certainly identify with that …’ As he has already completed the London Marathon on behalf of the RNLI, we can be sure that Andrew’s next challenge will be pretty spectacular! If you would like to join Andrew in his fundraising for the RNLI memorial and garden, you can make a donation via the RNLI Supporter Care team (see contact details on page 1), the JustGiving websites, or buy an RNLI first-day stamp cover (see page 52). For more about the project itself see page 9. .