Parkinson’s Pedallers – Pauillac to La Livinière: 12th – 16th June 2017

Fergus Henderson (middle) with Jim, Carole Macintyre and Max Poynter Hall
Fergus has had Parkinson's since 1998

A fishy perspective – featuring Kitty Cooper's foot....

Lafite – le départ...


... jusqu'a Cru La Livinière, Minervois 

From one famous cru to another: Pauillac to La Livinière Our challenge is to cycle from Pauillac, close to the Atlantic coast, to La Livinière in the Minervois, not very far from Mediterranean – a distance of roughly 500 km, just over 300 miles!

Pauillac is the home of some of the most famous Bordeaux vineyards - Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Latour, Château Mouton Rothschild. Our destination is La Livinière where we will, hopefully, catch the Boulevard Napoléon Fête du Vin, celebrating the wine of Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver, co-founders and co-owners of London’s St John Restaurant. The wine is made from their vineyards high up in the hills of the Minervois.

We have sought to build in incentives to complete each stage. On Monday night, for instance, we will be staying at Claude Darroze in Langon, the market town of Sauternes. Ever since August 1979 we have enjoyed memorable meals at here. Then on Thursday night, the last evening before we reach La Livinière, we will stay at Le Clos Fleuri in Castelnaudary to enjoy a traditional cassoulet. Fortunately the next day's stage is short!

Fergus Henderson & Trevor Gulliver's vines high up in the hills of the Minervois

It was at last year’s wonderful Fete du Vin at La Livinière that we came up with the idea of doing a charity ride and Fergus, who has had Parkinson’s since 1998, was the inspiration for selecting Parkinson’s UK as our chosen charity. Fergus is a well-known and highly regarded British chef and author of The Whole Beast: Nose to tail eating, which explains his philosophy and provides some of his innovative recipes that make use of all parts of the animal.

(Virgin Giving site – every donation makes a difference!
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/ParkinsonsPedalers)

Another inspiration for our ride is a long-time friend of ours, Ivor Morris, who was a very able and keen racing cyclist and founder of the London Fire Brigade Cycling Club. It was Ivor who first inspired us to take up serious cycling and get into time trialling in the late seventies and the eighties. Ivor died in early January 2008 after suffered from Parkinson’s for many years. We have very fond memories of dropping down to Ivor’s to watch the short snippets of news on the Tour de France, long before it became a popular spectator sport.

Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition for which there is as yet no known cure although there are hopes of a breakthrough in the near future. Parkinson’s UK plays a very important role in supporting and promoting research and driving better care, treatments and quality of life for those living with Parkinson’s.

To date the full-time cyclists for the whole distance are Jim Budd and Carole Macintyre. We have the invaluable support of Lynda Maple who will drive the support car, carry our gear and, if necessary, rescue us en route! We are delighted that at least one brave soul, Max Poynter Hall from St John Restaurant, will be joining us for one stage of the journey. We are looking for others!

Why not give it a go for a great cause? Contact us by emailing budmac@btinternet.com

Routehttps://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Pauillac,+France/34210+La+Livini%C3%A8re,+France/@44.1999911,-1.4930308,7z/am=t/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x4801cf6143b8dc53:0x40665174816ddb0!2m2!1d-0.746212!2d45.199585!1m5!1m1!1s0x12b1c4df8992621f:0x4078821166ac640!2m2!1d2.637515!2d43.315257!3e1

Virgin Giving site – every donation makes a difference!
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/ParkinsonsPedalers

Jim’s Loire
http://jimsloire.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/raising-money-to-combat-parkinsons.html

Parkinson’s UK
https://www.parkinsons.org.uk/

Parkinson's is a progressive neurological condition. This means that it causes problems in the brain and gets worse over time.

There's currently no cure for Parkinson's and we don't yet know why people get the condition.

But there are lots of different treatments, therapies and support available to help you manage the condition as well as continuing research. 

 Fergus @ the Fête des Vins, La Livinière June 2016
(above and below)

Raising money to combat Parkinson's – Pauillac – La Livinière

Château Lafite (Pauillac): the planned start of our ride

Cru La Lavinière, Minervois 

 Fergus' and Trevor Gulliver's 
vines high in the hills of the Minervois  

It has been three years since Carole Macintyre and I did a charity bike ride, so clearly time to put that right! Back in 2013 Carole rode from John O'Groats to Kinnesswood, the home of her niece who died of a brain tumour aged just 18. Carole rode to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust and I followed the next year riding the entire course of the Lore (over 1000 kilometres) from the source to the Atlantic Ocean. 

This time we will ride across Southern France from one cru – Pauillac in the Médoc – to another – La Lavinière, the top site in the Minervois to raise money for Parkinson's UK. We are very pleased that Max Poynter Hall of St John will be joining us for the stage to Fronton.

We are delighted that our friend Lynda will be supporting us throughout our journey from Pauillac to La Lavinière.

If anyone else fancies the ride from Pauillac to La Lavinière or part of it to raise money for Parkinson's please contact me on budmac@btinternet.com 

Please help us to fight Parkinson's by visiting our fund raising page here.   

Why Parkinson's? 

Fergus Henderson cooking  

at last year's Fête du Vin

 Fergus

Max Poynter Hall (St John)

will be joining us on one of the stages  

Fergus Henderson, co-owner and head chef at St John Restaurant, is the most immediate inspiration for our ride. Fergus has had Parkinson's for a number of years now. Last year Carole and I were invited to Fergus' and Trevor Gulliver's, his business partner's, annual fête du vins in La Lavinière (Minervois) where they have vineyards high up in the hills and a winery in the centre of the village. 

Fergus and Trevor's 2016 fête du vins was memorable, so we decided that we should make an effort to raise some money to help to combat Parkinson's, such a cruel disease. We will start from Pauillac on Monday 12th June and plan to arrive in La Lavinière on Friday 16th June, on the eve of the 2017 Fête.  

We will also be riding in memory of Ivor Morris, keen racing cyclist and founder of the London Fire Brigade Cycling Club. Ivor died in early January 2008 aged 80 having long suffered from Parkinson's.

It was Ivor, whose enthusiasm got us into time trialing in the late 1970's and early 1980s. We met Ivor when he was working as an assistant school keeper during the Fire Brigade strike of November 1977 - January 1978.

A few months before he died Ivor saw the 2007 Tour de France pass through Goudhurst, an early sign that cycling was become a major sport in the UK. Sadly he died before Mark Cavendish's first TDF stage victory and Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome's wins in the Tour. He would have been proud and delighted by this and the explosion of cycling in the London.   

Please help us to fight Parkinson's by visiting our fund raising page here.    

St John's annual growers' lunch – some photos

 Eric Texier, the Rhône

Link to St John's introduction to Eric's wines

We were privileged to be invited to St John's annual wine growers lunch today – a chance to taste many of the wines on the list, meet a number of the producers and pass a very agreeable Saturday afternoon while enjoying a good meal and company.  

Here a few photos from the event – pics of the dishes and a small selection of wine labels to follow. 

Diane Cauvin, Château Colombière, Fronton

Sophie Lafourcade Cachard, Domaine les Luquettes, Provence 

Trevor Gulliver of St John in mid-flow

Mark Calderbank of Root + Bone magazine 

Henry Harris, formerly owner and chef at Racine, 

London now involved in importing spirits