On a warm Saturday morning, with perhaps the best weather of the year so far, our 26th Milton Keynes Scouts met up for one of their biggest challenges yet – a 40 kilometre sponsored bike ride across Milton Keynes! We were setting off from Willen lake on a route chosen by the Scouts themselves, taking in as many of the lakes in the city as we could!

A wave for the camera before we set off!
Listening to Simon’s briefing at the start


The weather could not have been better – a blue sky, a few clouds and a slight breath of wind made for perfect cycling conditions. Everyone came prepared for a hard day’s riding, with a packed lunch, two water bottles each and puncture repair kits in case we hit any issues.

And we’re off! Our column of bikes sets out at Willen

For our first leg, we rode around the lake at Willen before heading down the Ouzel Valley to Caldecotte Lake, then along the Eastern edge of that and round the bottom before stopping for a drink and a snack.

High spirits at morning break – 1/3rd of the way there!

Our route now took us West, with the aim of cutting across past the MK Bowl to Furzton Lake. The pace and the heat of the day were starting to take their toll, and as we headed under an underpass we had our biggest accident of the day!

Socrates caught an edge with his front wheel and came down hard, bruising and scraping himself and also wrecking the rear gears on his bike! We decided to take a breather, and so we stopped for lunch by the concrete dinosaur.

Lunch at the dinosaur. I think it’s ignoring us…

After we’d eaten, Alex demonstrated some fantastic Scout values by kindly lending his bike to Socrates, who was determined to complete the ride. And so, one down, we headed off again.

Da’wud, Elle and Jessie as we passed Caldecotte

Once we’d gone around Furzton we headed North, and past the Teardrop lakes and Lodge lake. After one last stop for a breather, the Troop swept down the old railway line and back towards the Grand Union Canal, before heading back up to the finish line at Willen and some well-deserved drinks and ice-creams!

Our route – we’re a bit suspicious of the time on this though, as we were out for over six hours!

Not only was the ride a fantastic achievement for the Scouts; they’ve raised a lot of money for the group to buy camping supplies with! At time of writing the total stands at just over £1,200 which is an absolutely FANTASTIC effort, and will help support the group get some great equipment for more exciting camp experiences.

The fundraising page is still live, and you can donate here.

A massive well done to all the Scouts!