Some time in April I thought it would be a good idea to set a ‘Big Hairy Audacious Goal’ [BHAG] for the summer, and signed up to join a work team raising money for UNICEF with the challenge being to cycle through France ‘over a few days at the end of September’ …

 

Well ‘the end of September’ is nearly upon us and on 25 Sept I’ll be getting on an overnight boat at Portsmouth , then will be bicycling a mere 360 miles from St Malo up to Lille in France , followed by a nice train journey back to London .  We plan to cycle over 4 days

 

Day 1: 26 Sept: St Malo to Alencon (distance 110.65 miles / elevaton 3287 ft)

Day 2: 27 Sept: Alencon to Rouen (distance 97.61 miles / elevation 1847 ft)

Day 3: 28 Sept: Rouen to  Amiens ( distance 73.36 miles/1984 ft)

Day 4: 29 Sept: Amiens to Lille ( distance 76.5 miles / 1417 ft)

 

On the journey I will be joining about 50 of my workmates who’re all super streaky amazonian fit and while I have of course been training, 'terrified' best sums up how I feel about the challenge right now.  

 

If you would support me in this crazy endeavour and could find a spare tenner or two for UNICEF, (in lieu of the couple of drinks I would usually blag from you over summer) I would be very grateful, and it will make it that much easier to keep going when my legs fall off sometime towards the end of day three.  My employer also fund matches, so the more you donate, the more they do too.  

 

Let me include here a little bit about UNICEF taken from their website, which sums up why I think they are well worthy of  our support..

 

‘… In 1989, governments worldwide promised all children the same rights by adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. These rights are based on what a child needs to survive, grow, participate and fulfil their potential. They apply equally to every child, regardless of who they are, or where they are from.

Every day these rights are denied. Millions of children are dying from preventable diseases. Millions more don’t go to school, or have food, shelter and clean water. Children are subjected to violence, abuse and discrimination, and go unheard. This is wrong.

UNICEF works with families, communities and governments in more than 190 countries to put it right. They protect and promote the rights of all children to an education, to be healthy, to a childhood, to be treated fairly and to be heard. UNICEF has more than 60 years' experience working for children and are the only organisation specifically named in the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a source of expert assistance and advice …’

 

I am of course grateful for any support you can give, from positive wishes upwards.  

THANK YOU SO MUCH, 

Liz 

note from JustGiving: 

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.