Cycle from Britain to Germany in Six Days
Close friends and family know my great affection for Germany and the German People. Our link is a direct result of the unbreakable bridges being erected between families here and in Speyerdorf and Koblenz.
Sometimes I’m asked who my German teacher is – meine Deutschleherin – and it is Frau Silke Schneeweiß.
Silke has, this evening, Thursday September 10, just raised the £5,000 she set herself to achieve in a charity cycling event from Cheltenham in Britain to her mother’s home city of Koblenz.
The eight day marathon, in all weathers – including the torrential down-pours and flash floods that swept across the UK and Europe at the very moment as the marathon got underway – was of course followed daily by the BBC.
Silke’s aim was to help raise funds to enable Jessica to obtain a new wheelchair.
Ms Jessica Pfeiffer, Journalist, on the Rhein-Zeitung, has written a superb article and its translation appears below.
Well done Silke. I really do take my hat off to you!
Jessica Pfeiffer, Reporterin,
Betrifft Artikel: „Mit dem Rad von England nach Urbar“ (Rhein-Zeitung, Ausgabe B, vom 08.09.2020, Seite 23)
Die Rhein-Zeitung Dienstag September 8. 2020 | The Rhine Newspaper, Tuesday 8 September, 2020
Relates to the article: "By bike from England to Urbar" (Rhein-Zeitung, issue B, from September 8th, 2020, page 23)
The Article displayed herein by Jessica Pfeiffer, Reporter, is by License for immediate, complete and unlimited use of the print version of the Article “By Bike from England to Urbar” and solely for use on this website, the License being issued by Rhein-Zeitung / Mittelrhein-Verlag to Kenneth T. Webb Liverpool (the User). Any other type of use requires the prior express (written) approval of Rehin-Zeitung / Mittelrhein-Verlag. It is the responsibility of the User to comply with the provisions of the copyright law and any rights of third parties.
I am especially grateful to Frau Natalie Simon, Archivist, Rhein-Zeitung Mittelrhein-Verlag (Middle Rhine Publishing House) for enabling use of this Article. © KTW © IBM
By bike from England to Urbar
750 Kilometres in six days: Silke Schneeweiss is on a mission to collect donations.
From our Reporter
Jessica Pfeiffer
Cheltenham / Urbar. She is actually not a cyclist at all: her mountain bike is much too small and she bumps her knees all the time, says Silke Schneeweiss.
She has never ridden long tours anyway. Nevertheless, the 46-year-old dared to go on a bike tour that not everyone would dare to do: She rode from her home in Cheltenham in the south-west of England, where she went seven years ago for love, to Urbar - and not for fun Sport, but to raise funds for a young woman who is very close to her heart.
"I actually wanted to walk the Way of St. James, from southern France to Santiago de Compostela," says Silke Schneeweiss.
But then her mother, who lives in Urbar, was diagnosed with cancer. The independent German teacher still wanted to go through the fundraising campaign and decided to reschedule her tour - shoes became wheels, and Spain became landmarks.
But then, shortly before the start of the tour, there were still problems with the bike: The bike that she wanted to borrow from a dealer was stolen from the shop a few days before the start of her tour. Without further ado, one of the shop employees lent her his father's bike.
It took Silke Schneeweiss a total of six days to get to Urbar. It was around 750 kilometers: from Cheltenham in England via Thame and Harlow to Harwich, then by ferry to Holland and 's-Hertogenbosch and finally via Wegberg and Cologne to Urbar. She stayed in hotels, with friends and on the ferry.
She did all of this for jessie - a young woman, 23 years old, for whom Schneeweiss works as a personal assistant. Jessie suffered from myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as chronic fatigue disease.
"The disease has not been well researched," says Silke Schneeweiss. She helps her with everyday things like shopping or drives her to appointments, because Jessie often has chronic pain, cannot go to work, even the way across the street to the supermarket is difficult for her and is practically impossible without her electric wheelchair.
And that is exactly why Schneeweiss is collecting donations for a new wheelchair. It should cost around 14,000 pounds (just under 15,600 euros). The cyclist has set herself a donation goal of 5,000 pounds and almost achieved it: Almost 4,000 pounds has already been raised. "Every contribution counts," says Schneeweiss. 'Even if you just share the action on social networks. It's great when people show solidarity. "
A local BBC radio station also found her action so good that it reported daily on Schneeweiss during her tour and broadcast voice messages that the 46-year-old recorded with her cell phone while on the move.
It is not Schneeweiss’s first charitable campaign. The 46-year-old has already taken part in a 100-kilometer run several times and collected donations, and has worked for many organizations in Germany, such as Doctors Without Borders. "But," says Schneeweiss, "this campaign is special because it is so personal for someone I value very much. "
The 46-year-old also noticed on her tour how solid many people are, how helpful and friendly they are. On the very first day, when she was tramping up a hill on her bike, a man in a van had stopped next to her and stretched 5 pounds against her. He had seen her many stickers on her backpack with the information about the action. And when she had a punctured tire outside Cologne, another cyclist had helped her with the repair.
Apart from a few technical difficulties, everything went smoothly. In Urbar, Silke Schneeweiss was finally welcomed by her family with balloons and fans. She wants to stay until mid-September and support her mother with her cancer therapy. And how are you going back then? "Not by bike," says the 46-year-old - she takes the plane.
More information about the fundraising campaign on facebook under "Silke Wheelchair Fundraiser for Jessie". If you want to donate, you can do so at www.gofundme.com/f/wheelchair-fundraiser-for-jessie
Quality time - With Mama on the Rhine. Alles ist gut! | All is well.
1 November 2020
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© Kenneth Thomas Webb 2021
© Jessica Pfeiffer - die Rhein-Zeitung / Mittelrhein-Verlag
First Published 28 September 2020
User License held by Kenneth .T. Webb © KTW © IBM
Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.
He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.
Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.
In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.
