100km Gravel ride FOR THE MINISTRY OF STORIES

August 18, 2025

Welcome to my latest fundraising ride for the Ministry of Stories…
In 2022 I rode from Land’s End to John O’ Groats and raised over £4,000. This time round I am keeping things a bit more local.

On September 21st I will be riding the gravel paths of London’s greatest ancient woodland, Epping Forest. It is a forest that trails its way from Manor Park and reaches to the very edge of London. It is a lush forest of old twisted trees, heaths, bogs and marshlands..

It can be deep and dark in places, it is said to be haunted, and it is the perfect place for a Little Ogre to get lost, found and spun around…

Please come and join the Little Ogre, as we ride for 100km / 62 miles, navigating our way through this bucolic wooded landscape.

Join from the start or tag along for part of the way(I will have a tracker that will give out my location during the event). You can even ride the route yourself anytime you feel like it. With every donation I will send you a GPX route file that can be uploaded to your cycle computer. All you need is a bike with a decent set of tires (38mm and above depending on the weather), that can tackle the light gravel paths of the forest. I only ask one thing of you; before you join the ride please donate whatever you can to the Ministry of Stories and help them bring a child’s vision to life....

EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT RIDING, YOU CAN HELP THE LITTLE OGRE SPIN HIS LEGS A LITTLE FASTER BY DONATING...

Thank you for taking the time to read this. You can find the donation link below and if you need anymore info please use the contact page to get in touch.

Cheers, Greg Nay

To donate go here:
https://ministryofstories.enthuse.com/pf/thelittleogre

To sign up for the ride:
https://www.graphiccoffee.com/contact
(check your junk mail)

When: September the 21st, 2025
Where: Chingford Station (halfway round there will be some refreshments for the riders that take part on the day)
Time: 9am
Target: £1,000

Here is a little more about the Ministry of Stories

What if I told you there was a shop in Hoxton that has been supplying basic neccesaties to Monsters since 1818! You know things like toasted bone chunks, sugar dusted bogies and even a mummy's sewing kit. A must if your rags are in tatters!

Whoah nuts right?

Well it gets better. Through a secret door in the shop there is the HQ for a place called The Ministry of Stories. Sounds official, one might say an Orwellian off shoot ...but hear me out. Imagine a place where as a kid you are free to let your imagination run wild. A place to nuture that creative ball of energy that you have burning within yourself but perhaps don't know what to do with it.

The Ministry is that very environment where kids put pen to paper and bring what they have in their inventive minds to life. Instilling them with a sense confidence and helping them realise that life is full of unlimited possibilities. With the guidance of volunteer mentors and programme leaders they have become authors, seen their poems written on the street for all to see, heard their stories read out on a podcast and even had their words turned into a play!

"And all they have to do is push through that bookcase in a store in Hoxton?"

Well that's right, although slight disclosure they do also run programs at schools in the vincinity of the Ministry but I digress, check out this video to get more of an idea of what is going down at the Ministry.

To learn even more about the Ministry of Stories:
https://ministryofstories.org