Open-access content
Wednesday 31st August 2016
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updated 5.50pm, Wednesday 29th April 2020
Bristol to Eiffel - our ultimate challenge
On the afternoon of Wednesday 15 June, despite heavy rain and a gloomy weather forecast, a group of colleagues from Aviva's Individual Protection Pricing Team (including team members from two sites: Bristol and York) took off on a charity bike ride from Bristol to Paris.
There were 14 cyclists in total, most of whom were complete beginners who didn't even own a bike a few months earlier!
The 260-mile route took us from Bristol through the Wiltshire countryside and on to Portsmouth. From there we caught the ferry to Le Havre before cycling south east to Evreux and then through Versailles and into the French capital.
We organised the entire challenge ourselves, persevered through weeks of tough training (with target miles reaching 100 miles per week) and faced long days in the saddle with some strenuous hill-climbs along the way. However, the beautiful countryside and ultimately the sight of the Eiffel
Tower gave us all a well-deserved sense of achievement.
So far we have raised a staggering £9,268 for three amazing charities (Children's Hospice South West in Bristol, Wilf Ward Family Trust in York and Cancer Research UK) which has made the whole experience even more worthwhile.
If you'd like to support our chosen charities, you can still do so by visiting our website: uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/avivaB2P. Any donation will be greatly appreciated. Or you can go to the Children's Hospice South West in Bristol:
www.chsw.org.uk/ Wilf Ward Family Trust in York: wilfward.org.uk/ or Cancer Research UK: www.cancerresearchuk.org/
There were 14 cyclists in total, most of whom were complete beginners who didn't even own a bike a few months earlier!
The 260-mile route took us from Bristol through the Wiltshire countryside and on to Portsmouth. From there we caught the ferry to Le Havre before cycling south east to Evreux and then through Versailles and into the French capital.
We organised the entire challenge ourselves, persevered through weeks of tough training (with target miles reaching 100 miles per week) and faced long days in the saddle with some strenuous hill-climbs along the way. However, the beautiful countryside and ultimately the sight of the Eiffel
Tower gave us all a well-deserved sense of achievement.
So far we have raised a staggering £9,268 for three amazing charities (Children's Hospice South West in Bristol, Wilf Ward Family Trust in York and Cancer Research UK) which has made the whole experience even more worthwhile.
If you'd like to support our chosen charities, you can still do so by visiting our website: uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/avivaB2P. Any donation will be greatly appreciated. Or you can go to the Children's Hospice South West in Bristol:
www.chsw.org.uk/ Wilf Ward Family Trust in York: wilfward.org.uk/ or Cancer Research UK: www.cancerresearchuk.org/
