One man’s inspiring account of resilience and adventure in his quest to see over 300 lighthouses <\/p>
A teenage Ed Peppit dreamed of cycling to every British lighthouse \u2013 but a diagnosis held him back<\/strong>…<\/p> As a child, I spent school holidays at my grandmother\u2019s house on Romney Marsh, near the Kent<\/a> coast. I was only about seven years old when I realised the light that flashed on to my attic bedroom wall at night came from the lighthouse at nearby Dungeness. <\/p> This magical discovery sparked an obsession with lighthouses that has endured over 50 years. <\/p> As a teenager, I devised an ambitious plan to cycle and sail to every lighthouse around the British coast. However, life intervened. University, a career, marriage and starting a family all took precedence. And then a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 2012 seemed to dash any hope of realising my lighthouse tour. <\/p> Hope came from two sources: Shift MS<\/a>, an inspiring multiple sclerosis support group, taught me that MS isn\u2019t about giving up on your ambitions, just rethinking how to achieve them. And there was the Association of Lighthouse Keepers<\/a> (ALK) \u2013 a wonderful eclectic band of former keepers and enthusiasts.<\/p> With encouragement from friends and family, and the support of both organisations, I decided it was now or never. Identifying more than 300 former and operating lighthouses around the coast of England, Wales and the Channel Islands<\/a>, I decided Scotland would have to wait for a follow-up trip. <\/p> Even the sketchiest estimate suggested it would take 3,500 miles in the saddle, about 100 days away from work and more than a dozen boat trips. For someone who hadn\u2019t cycled at all for 20 years and with an unpredictable condition like MS, perhaps this was lunacy?<\/p> I set off on a May Bank Holiday weekend, woefully overladen and underprepared. Less than two hours in, another cyclist stopped me to ask what I was doing. When I told him, he replied, \u201cAmazing! But you look exhausted. How much further have you got to go?\u201d <\/p> It was the unexpected kindness of strangers together with a growing band of social media supporters that propelled me forward. <\/p> By the end of the first week I had bagged my first 25 lighthouses and reached a charming guesthouse on the Isle of Wight<\/a>, courtesy of a fellow member of the ALK. A week later, I was lighthouse spotting in the Channel Islands<\/a>, supported by a retired psychiatrist with an Airbnb on Jersey<\/a>, and Red Carnation Hotels on Guernsey. By the end of the first month, I had reached the rugged Cornish cliffs at the Lizard Lighthouse<\/a>, where my family joined me thanks to a generous offer from someone who had read about my journey and vacated the keeper\u2019s cottage she was renting. <\/p>