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news
Refugees Welcome.PNG“Refugees Welcome” – British cyclists complete world’s largest GPS artwork
A pair of cyclists from the UK have finished what is the world’s largest GPS artwork, riding 2,200 kilometres to sketch out the words “Refugees Welcome” across southern England.
Georgie Cottle, 27, and David Charles, 39, undertook the challenge to raise funds for the charity, Choose Love with their total currently standing at more than £50,000.
The pair, who set out on their journey a month ago, have smashed the previous record of 761km.
“We chose to spell out ‘Refugees Welcome’ across this region because this is the biggest entry point for asylum seekers reaching the UK,” said Georgie.
“To finish the last letter in Dover felt very symbolic and sends a message of compassion to those arriving here.
“The challenge has been in response to what’s been happening in Afghanistan, and also Priti Patel and the UK government’s monstrous overhaul of the asylum system.
“The new policies will put the country in direct opposition to the 1951 Geneva Convention by shutting down more of the few remaining legal routes to the UK.”
“The south of England is hillier than you might think, so it’s certainly been a challenge” she continued.
“I spent my 27th birthday cycling out the ‘O’ of in Welcome, so that was really cool.
“But the challenges have definitely been overcome by the amount of amazing people we’ve met on the route and we’ve had a further 35 people sign up to help us finish the challenge.
“Everyone’s been so supportive and even in places we haven’t been sure they’d support our cause, they really have.
“Normal people, like us, really do just want to help to try to do something to help people in need,” she added.
On their fundraising page, the pair set out the reasons behind the challenge, saying: “The British government is trying to make it almost impossible for refugees to claim asylum in the UK.
“Home Secretary Priti Patel's Nationality and Borders Bill is putting the UK in direct opposition to the 1951 Geneva Convention by shutting down even more legal routes to asylum in this country. Incredibly, it will also criminalise the courageous, life-saving work of the RNLI.
“That's why we're getting back on our bikes, cycling really really far and fundraising for grassroots organisations that offer refugees the welcome that our government withholds.”
They also wrote of their own personal reasons for taking on the challenge.
“I have been a keen bean cyclist since I was 19 and found myself cycling the length of America, sort of by accident,” Georgie said.
“Since then I have explored much of Scotland, Wales and New Zealand with my trusty Raleigh Capri (called ‘Sunny’).
“I first got involved volunteering with refugee and asylum seeker communities while studying Arabic in Jordan in 2016, at the height of the crisis. I learned one heck of a lot about what it meant to be a 'refugee', what people had to give up and why people were forced to flee.
“I now work with refugee and asylum seeker communities in Glasgow and it seems that people's journeys are being made ever more difficult by governments here in the UK and in Europe.
“Spell It Out is an incredible challenge that I am so privileged to be a part of. We are both really looking forward to getting on the road, and rallying as much support as possible for Choose Love!”
David said: “I've been going on ridiculously long bike rides for ten years now, including two stints on the London to Athens relay with Thighs of Steel.
“For me, bikes are the ultimate freedom machine, carrying me across continents, powered by nothing more than a croissant (or seven). I have also seen the transformational potential of bikes when put into the hands of refugees and asylum seekers, both here in the UK and in places like Calais, Athens, Chios and Samos.
“Bikes give us both independence and community and I'm proud to use mine in solidarity with those fleeing persecution, conflict and torture.
“I've been so lucky that I've been able to travel freely around the world, thanks only to the freak chance of being born in a politically stable, wealthy country. The sheer injustice that some human beings aren't allowed to cross borders makes me furious and anger is an energy, right? I hope so, because I've got an awful lot of cycling to do!
“We are far from powerless,” he added. “Please donate generously, make a noise and show the world that refugees are always welcome here.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- quiff 9 min 30 sec ago
If you watch him climbing Shap, the gearing doesn't look great. From the linked article:...
- bensynnock 11 min 14 sec ago
You'd just get dog walkers on it with a 30m lead.
- bensynnock 13 min 9 sec ago
I believe that if they have the power to issue a fixed penalty notice that they also have that right to ask for your name and address, and that...
- mikecassie 26 min 22 sec ago
It'd appear the sportive organizer is particularly uncaring. They are asking for extra signage prior to speed bumps, not change the route or other...
- Arjimlad 39 min 48 sec ago
Easy for me to say don't give in, let them see how far they get with that. But in other cycling cases, they've been dropped before trial b/c a...
- dubwise 57 min 42 sec ago
Anyone else getting fed up with the constant "controversial cycling this, controversial cycling that" narrative?
- Cugel 1 hour 8 min ago
The stuff we eat comes from non-supermarket sellers who are mostly packaging free - certainly the dates, figs, bananas and oats are all bought ...
- mitsky 1 hour 40 min ago
While I agree that driving relatively short distances is wastefull and unneccessary, I drove to 6th form daily for 6 months after I passed my...
- Paul J 3 hours 11 min ago
Where do you get those numbers? I have their Power Shield Pro and Power Shield RPM pages open here now and I read this, C&Ping from the pages...
- Beatnik69 3 hours 58 min ago
I have a funny feeling that Translink don't allow bikes on trains before 9am, which is ridiculous. They ned to bring back the guard van that used...
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87 comments
Always? Always been a beacon of light for human rights? Are you sure about? I'm sure the thousands od women and children who died in english concentration camps during the anglo-Boer war might not agree with you.
Comments once again a waste of time. What you've got to do, if you don't like this sort of thing, is just re-ride it but insert "Not" between Oxford and Luton. Once that's done, for those who want to rebut that we'll accept the same ride but with "Not" crossed out and "Are so!" in its place.
For courtesy and fairness on each completed ride the contrary opinion should stand the riders one coffee and cake stop.
Is there a link to the actual completed GPS file/Strava activity?
'Nationality and Borders Bill'
Patel's parents (or the millions of other Patels) would not have got into the UK had there been the 'Nationality and Borders Bill" at the time.
I suppose that is what is known as 'irony'.
I think it's the tradititional Conservative view of 'deserving' vs 'undeserving' migrants, same as they believe that there are 'deserving' vs 'undeserving' poor.
Don't be silly Brooksby. If they were deserving they wouldn't be poor...
Indeed. I feel the need to post this (again)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/priti-patel-immigration-l...
Her parents came to the UK from the east African state [Uganda] in the 1960s and set up a chain of newsagents. However, their arrival came before dictator Idi Amin’s mass expulsion of Uganda Asians in 1972, which saw many families forced to flee the country and admitted to the UK under their status as colonial citizens.
Huh? Gawd - coming over here, taking over our newsagents...
Indeed. Patel has also been quite mysterious as to where she actually went to school. I guess lying is pretty much de rigueur to be in Johnson's Cabinet.
From France?
Refugees are a global problem. As a good global citizen, we should accept our fair share of them. At present, we take FAR fewer refugees than other, comparable European countries.
Well done! and thank you from all the non-gammons.
“The south of England is hillier than you might think,...." No, it isn't. It's much hillier and I used to live there. A bit like Ireland; rumours of it's flatossity are greatly exaggerated.
Is that a technical term? Does it have an SI unit?
Of course - the Stanley.
Ah, I see. Is that a base unit, or a compound measurement?
I know that many hold by the convention that a suitable measurement is the Imperial Pensioner Cyclists per Square Yard, based on Gammon's Law that states that the amount of pensioners cycling in an area is inversely proportional to steepness. Of course, this raises an issue when measuring flatness as it is the reciprocal. It also results in an operatively zero value when applied to slopes of more than 3% (aka the High Street Constant, the scientifically proven minimum gradient of highstreets in Kent market towns), which is the known maximum slope that pensioners can cycle. This is of course why it is essential that there are no cycle lanes in town centres.
The other oddity with this measurement is that unlike flatossity it is not logarithmic. This means that it tends towards infinity on perfectly flat areas. This perhaps explains why you find so many old folk with their bikes in snooker halls, and also why so many drown at sea
I know that Road CC is famous for regurgitating the same story over and over and over again.
But you published this story on the 3rd September 2021.
What's changed? Apart from someone having a Birthday, between then and now?
(No, I haven't read the article. Or the original... or any other repeats 😉)
The first story was they were attempting the strava art, this is they completed it.
😔
Excellent news.
Triggered Gammonflake comments incoming shortly, no doubt.
Hi. I'm not english, could you please explain why is gammon an insulting/derogatory term to use? I know it as a form of smoked cooked pork and not sure why that is insulting. Thanks.
Don't they have Google in this mysterious non-english (sic) country you claim to be from?
They do have google. The non-english country i am from is South Africa and gammon is not an insult/derogatory term i am familiar with.
You could have just answered the question in exactly the same amount of time and typing as you took to be sniffy about them not Googling it.
If someone approaches you in the street and asks for directions, do you just say "Don't you have Google Maps on your phone?" in response?
So you assumed i was trolling for a reaction?
It's to do with the facial skin colour of white men, particularly unfit ones, when angry.
Thanks for that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gammon_(insult)
Today I learned that "gammon" has been in use for centuries
Indeed. Term originally coined by Charles Dickens.
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