Trip of a lifetime
Dick and his son Ben during their 220 mile bike ride
It’s 220 miles from St. Bees in
Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay near
Whitby in North Yorkshire. Richard
(Dick) Noble knows that better than
anyone. He’s just completed the
route by bike. He’s 67, he’s a lary –
and it just took him five days!
Dick wasn’t going to be phased by
a bike ride. Even an epic expedition
like this. Of course he was scared;
naturally he had doubts, but Dick
is quick to praise his riding partner
(and son), Ben for his unstinting
encouragement and inspiration.
Dick was diagnosed with throat
cancer a couple of years ago. And
not for the first time. He survived his
first brush with cancer in his twenties.
And his remarkable recovery then
must have spurred him on. His wife
explains how he’s continued to live
a very full, very active life despite
the second diagnosis of cancer, and
subsequent surgery. If anything, it
seems to have made him even more
determined.
There was also the small matter of
the sponsorship he’d generated. Dick
managed to raise £1,000 for the Great
North Air Ambulance and the High
Dependency Unit at Leeds General
Infirmary where he recovered after his
op. And, as well as all that, he got to
live a life-long dream of completing
this route by bike.
So if the small matter of a nine hour
laryngectomy op couldn’t deter him,
4 THE VOICE | Summer 2013
Amazingly, Dick seems to be in
better-than-ever shape, so don’t
write off any more adventures in the
future… Although Dick might have to
run that past his wife first! ?