Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
Below is the story of what I was doing and why. I am glad to say that I have now done it and want to thank you all for your support. I nearly didn't make, as the bike broke down with about 12 miles to go. Those who know me well will know that I am tenacious, if not stubborn, and decided when it was clear I couldn't fix the bike that I would walk the remaining 12 miles. I had walked 3 miles when I got the village of Bildeston where, at 3.40 on a Sunday afternoon, I stumbled on not just any old bike shop, but the best bike shop in Suffolk - and it was open. 40 minutes later I was on my way again thanks to Matt from Lifecycle UK and I got to The Clarkes' at 5.30, having cycled the last hour in almost total darkness, very relieved to have made it and grateful to have been able to cycle it.
Below is my original message, from which you will see that I had thought I would do 50 miles back in the UK on Sunday 13th. The journey was actually 40, but the distances had been underestimated in Denmark, so I ended up cycling a total of 187 miles to complete the journey described below.
You may remember that last year I cycled 70 miles in one day in support of my colleague, Gary Jones, who cycled the entire length of the Thames over a period of four days. Well, I caught the bug and will be doing another sponsored cycle from the 9th - 13th December.
In December I will set off to cycle from London to Copenhagen (140 miles with a ferry in the middle!) as part of a Christian Aid backed team, arriving in time for the UN Climate Change Conference, to add my voice to the thousands of other people campaigning for change. To add some extra spice and challenge, I am then going to cycle another 50 odd miles when I get back to the UK on Sunday 13th December to a rendezvous point in Suffolk, where friends of ours live and have kindly agreed to put me up on Sunday night.
Climate change is an issue I do care about, as many of you already know, not least as I recently asked some of you to join me in signing up to the 10:10 campaign (www.1010uk.org), but the really important thing is the work of the charity I am raising money for. In completing this challenge, my aim is to raise a minimum of £2,000 for Christian Aid's vital work tackling the causes and consequences of poverty. Increasingly, one of those causes is climate change, which is having a disproportionate effect on the poorest of the world's population, but that shouldn't distract or detract from Christian Aid's aim to tackle poverty whatever its cause. If you want more information on this, visit the Christian Aid website at www.christianaid.org
I would be very grateful for your support. As you will see from the photograph attached training has already started. My daughters did ask me why I was training in my pyjamas!
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Please dig deep and thanks to all of you,
Chris
