Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I signed up for this charity ride (in a moment of madness!) after listening to an inspirational talk, at our local breakfast club, by Belinda Gray, the charity's founder. Belinda set up the 'Art for Cure' charity as a way of giving back something, following her own experience with breast cancer in 2012. What really appealed to me was that funds raised by the charity do not just go to research (which is of course invaluable) but also to directly support, in a variety of ways, those who are going through the process of surgery, chemo etc.

Normally I would have just made a donation, but on this occasion I wanted to go the extra mile (or several hundred!) and actually DO something for the charity. So, without a great deal of thought, and even less discussion, I found myself signed up for this ride, which I figure could probably be the biggest personal challenge of my life time.  

A 450km cycle ride, over six days, on trail bikes from Saigon, through the hot and humid rice paddies of the Mekong Delta and heading up to the Cambodia border, taking in Khmer temples and Pol Pot's 'killing fields' at Ba Chuc en-route. Then on to Phnom Phen, Kampong Thom and finally to our destination at Seam Reap and Angkor Wat. We are promised varied terrain, extreme heat and high humidity. Here in the UK we can train to cover the distance (and we are putting in the miles - personally, a little over 1100 miles covered this summer on Suffolk roads!) but coping with the tropical environment is a completely different matter. 

This truly is a physical and mental challenge in all respects and, since I turned seventy this year, it is not one that I am likely to repeat. For me, it is truly a 'one-off' event so I really want to make it count by raising as much as I possibly can for this great charity.

For this, of course, I need YOUR help, so PLEASE support me on this challenge and make a donation through this 'JustGiving' page where 'Gift Aid' can be added if appropriate. Alternatively, text: ASIA61 followed by a sum (£1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10) to 70070. (£10 max via text)

The group target of our 40+ team members is to raise at least £100,000 for the charity. As I understand it, most of the team are 'self funded' for the ride so the majority of funds raised will go directly to the charity.

For more information about the charity, and the ride, please visit:  https://www.artforcure.org.uk/bike-ride/

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.