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Bethan Scott to take on 500km cycle in memory of husband

Bethan Scott to take on 500km cycle in memory of husband

Leader Live5 days ago
Bethan Scott is embarking on her next major challenge starting on July 23, cycling 500km from London to Paris, as part of her ongoing mission to raise £1 million in memory of her late husband, Dave Scott.
Bethan will be joined by fellow fundraisers Roman Mach and Helen Massey, who she met during previous charity treks and cycles in support of Nightingale House Hospice.
Helen Massey, Roman Mach and Bethan Scott. (Image: Nightingale House Hospice) The trio will start their journey in Croydon, riding to Dover before crossing the Channel to Calais. Once in France, they'll cycle through picturesque countryside, historic market towns and the poignant war memorials of the Somme, before arriving in Paris via the Champs-Élysées and finishing at the iconic Eiffel Tower.
This incredible ride is just one of many challenges Bethan has completed around the world since she began fundraising in Dave's memory following his passing in 2017.
Her efforts have already raised over £180,000 for Dave's chosen charities Alzheimer's Research and Cancer Research UK, including £160,000 for Nightingale House Hospice, the place that provided care and support for him and his family.
Bethan said: 'The hospice will always be central to my fundraising.
Dave Scott (Image: Nightingale House Hospice)'I've seen first-hand the incredible care they gave to Dave and our family.
"I've made it my mission to raise £1 million in his name and this year I'm aiming to reach my next milestone of £200,000.'
Bethan is grateful to have the backing of three generous sponsors for the London to Paris ride. The ASH Group, SPEN and The Pencilcraftsman have all come forward to support the challenge.
Following the London to Paris cycle, Bethan and Roman will head straight into another international challenge in October, taking on the Spanish Three Peaks in Sierra Nevada National Park, tackling Alcazaba, Veleta and Mulhacén (mainland Spain's highest peak) over three gruelling days.
The Spanish trek will mark Bethan's 10th international challenge, adding to an impressive list that includes the Inca Trail in Peru, Mount Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp, the Great Wall of China, the Alps, Camino de Santiago, mountains of Croatia, Mount Toubkal and cycling from Vietnam to Cambodia and Milan to Venice.
In 2024, Bethan and the Everest Base Camp team and Dave's Memory Walking Group, who walked from Llandudno to Wrexham, raised almost £20,000 for Nightingale House Hospice, and she continues to be overwhelmed by the support of her fellow fundraisers. Helen Massey is also planning to take on the Welsh 3000s challenge this year to support Bethan's fundraising total.
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So far this year, Bethan has raised over £6,000 and is hoping a packed calendar of events will help her reach £20,000 by the end of 2025, bringing her overall fundraising total to £200,000.
Bethan added: 'Every step, every pedal, and every summit is for Dave.
'I promised I'd keep going, and I will, not just for him, but for the hospice and for everyone who needs their care.'
To follow Bethan's journey or support her fundraising, visit: bit.ly/Challenge-2025
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From The Mountain's Edge by Ed Jackson: What nearly dying (twice!) taught me about living
From The Mountain's Edge by Ed Jackson: What nearly dying (twice!) taught me about living

Daily Mail​

time42 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

From The Mountain's Edge by Ed Jackson: What nearly dying (twice!) taught me about living

From The Mountain's Edge by Ed Jackson (HQ £16.99, 250pp) With the sun shining brightly, though not for much longer, Ed Jackson and his small team of climbers stood trapped at 22,300ft, just below the summit of Himlung Himal deep in the Nepalese Himalayas. They couldn't go forward as they were surrounded by hidden crevasses, each covered by thick, fluffy snow that had failed to freeze. They would only know if the drop hidden by the snow was a few feet or several hundred when they stepped on it. There was clearly no route through the brilliant white of the crevasse field. Isolated in this freezing wilderness, driven back by treacherous glaciers and terrible snow conditions, they could go no further. They had no water, shelter or food. They hadn't slept for 36 hours and their bodies were battered and bruised from the days of gruelling climbing. It was too late to even attempt to descend further. There was no chance of a helicopter rescue till the next morning. As the sun set, the temperature began to drop to -25C (-13F). They'd have to spend the night in the open and hope for the best... How would they ever make it? There used to be a flood of mountain expedition books from publishers – and I should know, as I love climbing and have a ton of them on my shelves. Part of it was a huge interest stemming from the 1953 Everest triumph led by John Hunt's largely British team, and partly a general vogue for exploration and a growing love of the outdoors. Now times have changed. Expedition books are no longer a sure-fire hit. Climbing has become too complicated with different grades of difficulty – with or without oxygen, with or without aid, new route or old route and so on – so it is hard for the general public to feel involved. What publishers – and readers – seem to like are relatable people telling stories of exceptional endeavour in an extreme environment, rather than some bearded superhero ticking off another mountain triumph. And there can be few more relatable – or likeable – heroes than Ed Jackson. A former professional rugby player with Bath and Wasps among others, his life was changed when he broke his neck at 28, in 2017, diving into the shallow end of a swimming pool. He suffered serious spinal injuries and some medics said he would never walk again, but he proved them wrong – though his left side doesn't function properly and he has problems controlling his temperature, as well as some bodily functions. But he wasn't going to let the accident define him. And, clearly driven by fierce determination, within a year he had summited Snowdon before turning his attention to higher, more demanding peaks. Sporting star: Before his accident Ed played rugby for Wasps He has founded a charity, Millimetres 2 Mountains (M2M), with his wife Lois to help people facing mental health challenges to use adventure to develop a brighter future. And this hugely enjoyable book –vivid, observant and written with a crisp unfussiness – is about Jackson's desire to push his limits yet further with the attempt to climb the 23,425ft Himlung Himal in 2022, accompanied by his three friends, Ben, Beetle, Arron and their guide Bigraj. It's a terrific adventure book as much as anything else, with vivid chapters on the beauty of Nepal and the warmth of the Nepalese, the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu, the long trek to the mountain via the remotest village in the world, and the climbing through the crevasses of Himlung Humal. Jackson is under no illusions about what climbing entails. 'High-altitude mountaineering is suffering,' he writes. 'It strips you down to the point where every other word is an expletive, as it is the only way to explain what you are going through. 'Every step was a struggle and in the space of a few hours, we were accelerated into old age when every breath never quite gave us enough oxygen, so we would gasp for another. 'It's certainly not for everyone but for me it is the ultimate test of character and resilience and the rewards are unrivalled. 'You discover things about yourself you never knew existed and develop areas you have always wanted to strengthen.' That is as good a summation of the complex pleasures of climbing and mountaineering that I can think of. And there is great joy, too. Jackson writes: 'As I stared at the night sky the contrast of the physical output these climbs demanded compared with the mental clarity and calmness gained amazed me. In those moments I was truly present in my surroundings and life.' And back to the night on the bare mountain. As the temperature began to plummet, resigned to the fact that the mountain would just not let them pass, Jackson started to shake uncontrollably as the adrenaline from the climb wore off. All the team were struggling to stay awake, but they knew that falling asleep was how you died at these altitudes. Your core temperature drops when you sleep and that could be fatal when you are subjected to temperatures of -25C. Your heart would simply stop beating. They huddled together to preserve warmth, they sang, they told stories. As the icy cold seeped up through their bones from not moving, they all shivered violently. But Jackson remembered that this wasn't a bad sign. It was when you stopped shivering that you should be worried, as then your body is focusing on keeping your organs warm, which is the stage before dying. Eventually, they did make it to the morning. And morning means daylight and daylight means warmth. And eventually the rescue helicopter arrived. The team had survived. They may not have made it to the top but that's not really what climbing is about. It doesn't matter if you don't reach the summit, though it's important to have goals. What matters in climbing is the process, the friendships, the experience, the teamwork, and the fact that your life is in the hands of others, and theirs in yours. If it wasn't such an awful overused word, you could say it was the 'journey'. That's the final lesson for Jackson: his second brush with death after his accident makes him realise how much more living there was to do, with his wife, his family and his friends.

Spain's least touristy town has a new stay — go before everyone else
Spain's least touristy town has a new stay — go before everyone else

Times

time3 hours ago

  • Times

Spain's least touristy town has a new stay — go before everyone else

Not all of Spain is sizzling in a heatwave. My high-summer visit to the small town of Molina de Aragon, between Madrid and Zaragoza in the province of Guadalajara, is positively temperate — in the high 20s during the day and with cooler nights. It's part of Spain's so-called ice triangle, which also includes the towns of Teruel and Calamocha. All sit at an average altitude of 1,000m and are known for cold winters and moderate summers. There's plenty more to recommend Molina too. The centuries-old town is full of history and has a brand new parador. The 99th in Spain's chain of state-run hotels opened in May and is unusual in that, rather than being in a historic building, it offers panoramic views of one: Molina's splendid 12th-century castillo, which lies opposite, across the steep Gallo its hillside castle, extensive old town and pretty Romanesque bridge, it must be one of Spain's least-touristy towns: there's one bar — La Granja on Plaza San Pedro — and a few shops selling overalls or ironmongery to locals. That's it; not a souvenir or overpriced cocktail in sight. Thanks probably to the low visitor numbers, my husband and I find that everyone — from customers in that low-key bar to the woman in the castle ticket office — is pleased to see us, interested to know where we're from and keen to help out when our poor Spanish lets us down. The ethos of the paradors has three main aims: to bring historic buildings back to life, give poorer areas an economic boost and showcase the 'other' Spain, away from beach resorts and well-known cities. Molina's new-build addition, designed by the Colombian-born architect Andres Perea Ortega, was conceived in response to devastating wildfires in the area in 2005 in which 11 people died and 13,000 hectares of forest were destroyed. It has taken 20 years to come to fruition, but today the hotel's clean modern lines curve round Molina's western side like a protective arm. It's built of local stone and the architects' favourite 'weathering steel' with a protective rust-like patina in warm dark brown. The east side is mostly glass, for those castle views, and the grounds are planted with rosemary, lavender and cypress trees. • Discover our full guide to Spain The interior is equally modern, with brilliantly curated artworks — paintings plus ceramic, metal and glass sculptures — and fairly frigid air con. Our room has a balcony overlooking the castle, a sleek stone-and-glass bathroom and the biggest bed we have slept in, a good seven feet across. Our fellow guests — we are the only foreigners — are mostly couples, although there are some grandparents with school-age grandkids. The food in the restaurant, which is also open to non-residents, is very good. 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Skylarks are singing their hearts out as we toil up the slope toward the walled plaza de armas (parade ground), four of whose original eight towers still stand. This area alone is in itself as big as many UK castles. We walk round as many of the battlements as possible, until I scare myself half to death scrambling down the pitch-dark steep and crumbly steps of one of the towers. English Heritage health and safety officials would have a fit at all the cracked stones, missing banisters and general dilapidation, but on the whole we enjoy the absence of 'mind your head' and 'danger steep drop' signs. The town and castle aside, nature lovers can easily fill days in Molina exploring the nearby Unesco-listed Molina-Alto Tajo Geopark, with its cliffs, canyons and jaw-dropping rock formations of the kind you would expect in Arizona or Utah. Here the Iberian peninsula's mighty Tagus River (which empties into the Atlantic from Lisbon, 600 miles away) is in its infancy, flowing clear through a network of wooded gorges. We drive a few minutes west from Molina and a wall of bulbous red sandstone pinnacles soon rears up, some with young trees perched on their tops. We meet the local geologist and guide José Antonio Martínez Perruca by the Virgen de la Hoz church, which sits at the bottom of one such formation, and start to climb the twisting rocky trail behind. Soon we're in the midst of the towers, peering into chasms and eyeballing the small mountain goats that browse almost-vertical rock faces for tasty lumps of moss. A griffon vulture, here from north Africa for the breeding season, is riding the thermals high above. Martínez tells us this geology was formed not by the action of the Tagus and its tributaries but 200 million years ago, in the Triassic period, when the supercontinent of Pangea was breaking up into Africa, the Americas and Europe. It's a perfect day, with cool breezes and bright sun, as we wander back down the steep slopes, yet we see not another soul. Martínez would love the area to find a larger audience. 'Our problem,' he says, 'is that people driving up from Madrid, across Spain's central plateau, have no idea these natural treasures exist.' The next day we motor half an hour south to the village of Chequilla, stopping on the way at a thrilling viewpoint over the Cabrillas gorge. Tiny Chequilla, population 14, seems to be on friendly terms with all this striking geology; its houses, garages and church huddle beneath the sandstone monoliths as if they are so many benevolent guardians. We are puzzled by signs to a plaza de toros — surely this place is too small to have its own bullring — but discover as we walk that this is a natural arena in the middle of Chequilla's ciudad encantada, an 'enchanted city' of rocky outcrops, clefts and towers on the village's southern edge. In August the space is used for an annual bull run, part of the Santo Cristo de la Fortaleza festival. Photographs show spectators watching from the flat tops of surrounding rock formations. Today, though, it is quiet; ours is the only car in the village car park, and the sole bar is firmly closed. On the way back to Madrid, we spend a night at a more classic parador, in the slightly larger town of Sigüenza. It's housed in a castle that was converted into a bishop's palace in the 12th century and has been operating as a parador since 1976. There are British voices in the breakfast room (formerly the bishop's throne room) and even a handful of artisanal gift shops near the surprisingly large cathedral. It's comfortable, palatial (naturally) and its chef offers a delicious seven-course tasting menu, but we're glad to have had a taste of less-trodden Spain in ancient Molina's very cool new parador. This article contains affiliate links that will earn us revenue Liz Boulter was a guest of Parador de Molina de Aragon, which has B&B doubles from £140 ( Fly to Madrid

Lionesses hero Keira Walsh forgets rivalry and prays Euro rivals Spain ‘enjoy' final after World Cup ‘kissgate' scandal
Lionesses hero Keira Walsh forgets rivalry and prays Euro rivals Spain ‘enjoy' final after World Cup ‘kissgate' scandal

Scottish Sun

time3 hours ago

  • Scottish Sun

Lionesses hero Keira Walsh forgets rivalry and prays Euro rivals Spain ‘enjoy' final after World Cup ‘kissgate' scandal

Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) KEIRA WALSH is praying the Euro 2025 final is remembered for all the right reasons. England face Spain in Basel on Sunday in a rematch of the 2023 World Cup final. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 Keira Walsh is hoping the Euro 2025 final on Sunday is remembered for the right reasons Credit: Getty 7 The 2023 Women's World Cup final was overshadowed by Luis Rubiales' kiss on Jenni Hermoso La Roja were crowned world champions with a 1-0 win in Sydney but their historic milestone was overshadowed over THAT KISS by then Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales on striker Jenni Hermoso. That smacker, which Hermoso said 'tarnished' her country's triumph, was ruled as a sexual assault in February this year. But Walsh is hoping Spain can 'enjoy' the final this time around with no more controversy. The England midfielder said: 'There's a lot of respect between both the teams. 'The most important thing for them is that they can enjoy this final. There's no controversy surrounding it. 'The girls deserve to be there, they play incredible football. So first and foremost, for them as human beings, that they can go out there and actually enjoy this game. 'They probably could have had more support. After the game there was a lot of controversy and I don't think for them there was enough spotlight on how incredible they played and how incredible some of their players were, it was all about the other stuff that had gone on. 'As a professional, that was disappointing to see. I have a lot of friends in that team and I think they probably deserved a little bit more than what they got.' 7 Spain beat England 1-0 in the 2023 World Cup final Credit: Getty 7 Walsh has insisted she is not dwelling on the defeat Credit: Getty CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS Walsh also insisted that she is not dwelling on the World Cup final defeat ahead of the rematch. She said: 'It was a massive disappointment. 'From a collective we probably feel like we didn't have our best performance that day. England star Chloe Kelly speaks about her crucial Euros penalty against Italy 'But as a football player you can become too emotional. 'This is a new game, new team, we know what we bring in this tournament so we're going to keep doing that and focus on the positives, not try to draw on that too much.' The Lionesses have gone to extra-time in both their knockout matches — but have led for just ONE minute. They came from 2-0 down to beat Sweden on penalties in the quarter-finals before scoring a dramatic 119th-minute winner to book their final spot. Walsh believes their impressive resilience is 'just a part of being English'. She said: 'That's what we feel when we put the shirt on. It's that we give everything, we run ourselves into the ground. 'The beauty of this squad is that we know if we have to come off because we're tired, there's going to be someone else who can come on and finish the job. 'It's what we just speak about as a team, that English resilience and it's something that we really pride ourselves on. 'You can see from the last two games that it's something we really believe in.' Chloe Kelly's last-gasp strike against Italy on Tuesday to secure the extra-time victory was the latest goal ever recorded at a women's Euros. Walsh said: 'For us, you create those moments for yourself through belief, confidence, determination.' That never-say-die spirit was also shown in Michelle Agyemang's 96th-minute leveller that forced extra-time. Walsh added: 'I've heard people have been saying that it was luck. It's not by luck Michelle is in the box and scoring. 'It's not by luck that people are putting crosses into the box — it's thought out, it's purposeful. 'It's the absolute belief that no matter what minute it is, we're going to win it or we're going to get a result to take us to extra-time. That's the resilience of this team.' 7 England left it late to book their spot in the Euros final Credit: Getty 7 Teenager Michelle Agyemang scored deep into injury time to force extra time Credit: AP

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