Monmouthshire Beacon: Two mums, two toddlers and 1,000km across Turkey
Monmouthshire Beacon: Two mums, two toddlers and 1,000km across Turkey
As seen in the Monmouthshire Beacon on 24 October 2026.
My friend Tori Williams and I are taking our toddlers, Skyla and Leo, on a 25-day e-bike adventure through Turkey. The Beacon shares our plans to ride more than 1,000 kilometres, adapt to whatever the journey brings and raise money for Leukaemia UK in memory of Tori’s mum, Wendy.
The feature brings together my return to cycling after my 2014 accident and life with chronic pain, Tori’s personal connection to the fundraiser, and our shared hope of encouraging parents to keep making room for adventure.
This is a further regional publication of the story also covered by the Abergavenny Chronicle, within the same Tindle newspaper network.
Read the Monmouthshire Beacon article.
Follow our Turkey expedition or support Leukaemia UK.
I’m Vanessa Ruck, The Girl On A Bike: a motivational speaker, motorcycle racer, adventurer and mum, living with chronic pain. Follow @thegirlonabike on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok.
The Girl On A Bike thegirlonabike
I'm a bike loving, free spirited adventurer born and raised in England. Life took a turn in 2014. In a single moment life as I knew it was taken away by the momentary lapse in judgement of a red-light-jumping car while I was cycling. My recovery to fitness took a little over 7 years with 7 major surgeries and since that day I've made it my goal to make the most out of life. My biggest goal is to help encourage others to get up and get out there. It doesn’t matter what it is, but we all start somewhere and if I can do it, so can you! Let’s make the most of life, what we do have around us and have fun doing it.
