A teenage Ed Peppit dreamed of cycling to every British lighthouse – but a diagnosis held him back...
As a child, I spent school holidays at my grandmother’s house on Romney Marsh, near the Kent 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.
This magical discovery sparked an obsession with lighthouses that has endured over 50 years.
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.
Hope came from two sources: Shift MS, an inspiring multiple sclerosis support group, taught me that MS isn’t about giving up on your ambitions, just rethinking how to achieve them. And there was the Association of Lighthouse Keepers (ALK) – a wonderful eclectic band of former keepers and enthusiasts.
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, I decided Scotland would have to wait for a follow-up trip.
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’t cycled at all for 20 years and with an unpredictable condition like MS, perhaps this was lunacy?
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, “Amazing! But you look exhausted. How much further have you got to go?”
It was the unexpected kindness of strangers together with a growing band of social media supporters that propelled me forward.
By the end of the first week I had bagged my first 25 lighthouses and reached a charming guesthouse on the Isle of Wight, courtesy of a fellow member of the ALK. A week later, I was lighthouse spotting in the Channel Islands, supported by a retired psychiatrist with an Airbnb on Jersey, and Red Carnation Hotels on Guernsey. By the end of the first month, I had reached the rugged Cornish cliffs at the Lizard Lighthouse, where my family joined me thanks to a generous offer from someone who had read about my journey and vacated the keeper’s cottage she was renting.
The first 1,000 miles, between Dungeness and Penzance, demonstrated I could still be physically active despite MS. But the second stretch, along the Welsh and West coasts, proved much tougher. Low mood and depression often accompany MS, and it took a firm hold of me. I remember phoning my GP, who suggested some light exercise might ease my symptoms.
Disaster struck near Barmouth when I discovered a crucial batch of MS medication was missing from my panniers. Once again, the power of social media came through, and replacement medication was couriered to me the following morning. A little more than three months after setting off, I made it back to Dungeness, where a crowd of supporters was waiting to welcome me home.
It felt great to have achieved something I had dreamed about for so long. I guess we all have an expedition or project we hope to achieve one day. My own proved a testament to not waiting for a life-changing diagnosis to pursue your dreams