Autocare Support Jamie Donnelly and his Fundraising Challenge

As a business, we like to be able to support individuals and charities who are doing their bit to make a difference, and in December we supported Jamie Donnelly on his latest adventure to raise funds for the Teddy Bear Children Support charity.

The Teddy Bear Support (TBCS) charity exists to help other children’s charities by raising funds for them, and Jamie regularly undertakes different challenges in order to do this.  In December his challenge was to kayak the length of Loch Ericht in Scotland.

Adverse Weather Conditions

Loch Ericht is 14.5 miles long and situated in central Scotland, East of Fort William. The challenge was organised for December – the middle of winter! He went up to Scotland a few days in advance to prepare and familiarise himself with the area and also regularly contacted the MET office for weather updates. It wasn’t looking good.

The MET office was predicting winds of up to 28 mph, which would have made the water too rough and challenge unsafe. However, the wind was due to reduce to 20mph by about 10am on the day of the kayak, and so Jamie and his experienced companion, Piotr Gudan, decided they would attempt the challenge starting at that time, but use a double kayak rather than two singles.

The wind did indeed reduce, but the waves on the loch were still a foot high in places and the wind chill factor made it feel about zero degrees Celsius. Despite special protective clothing, Jamie’s fingers were pretty cold for most of the first hour.

Successful, if Exhausting Challenge

It wasn’t possible for Jamie to complete the challenge by paddling the entire length of the Loch as there was no road access at the far end. Instead he and his companion decided to travel as far as they could by about 1.30pm and then turn around so that they could make it back to their starting point by sunset.

It was tough going with the wind and the waves, but the snow-capped mountain scenery and occasional waterfalls helped spur the two men on in the cold conditions knowing they were helping to raise funds and awareness for TBCS.

They made a video of the day which you can view on YouTube.

Autocare Proud to Support Worthy Causes

Bill and Dee, owners of Autocare were happy to be able to support Jamie with his challenge and donated £100 towards TBCS. “It’s great to see someone motivated and doing something to help others. So, we’re pleased we could support Jamie. His next challenge is to scale the Scottish Mountain Aonach Mòr – We wish him good luck!”

A Garage for the Chepstow Community

If you live local to Chepstow and are looking for a trusted garage to service and repair your car, why not give us a call. We can’t necessarily sponsor everyone, but we do aim to look after our customers and their cars giving a friendly and honest service to everyone.

Call us on 01291 627 137 or fill out our contact form and we’ll call you back.