Nearly 40 years after receiving our first tandem for our wedding in March 1977, we took our heavyweight long-distance tourer Daisy to NZ/Aotearoa and cycled from Cape Reinga at the top of North Island to Bluff at the bottom of South Island.

With a goal of nearly 3000 km and a target of £3000 for the Rory Peck Trust we were paced, followed and overtaken by some 240 international and Kiwi riders doing the official tour, among them our daughter Katie and her partner Mela, who completed the tour rather more swiftly, as a "brevet" in 100km or so stages. Although the (See http://www.touraotearoa.nz/) 

We blogged all the way at www.psychLotherapist.com - and don't forget the corny L when you're typing that into your browsers, as we're both - both - psychotherapists and psycho-cyclists....

After living and working abroad in the 70s and 80s (Moscow where we met, Berlin, Vienna, Beijing) and reporting for Reuters and the BBC, we're passionate about the Rory Peck Trust's support of freelance journalists and their families around the world who get into physical, emotional or financial difficulties as a consequence of their work.

This was Jutta's first seriously long-distance tandem tour since we explored the Scottish Highlands and Islands in 1979. 

For Mark, who cycled the South Island of NZ solo three years ago, it was also a reprise of an attempt in 2012 to bike from Cirencester to Hanoi, raising money for Rory Peck but abandoned at the time for health reasons - now sorted - just 200 miles into the trip in The Hague. 

Although the tour is now complete, feel free still to give generously!