Apparently, some people think that cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats - rather than the other way round - is going 'uphill' and therefore harder.  Clearly not any of you, because you're all far too clever, but I needed an intro and I went with heavy symbolism.  In reality, I'm told going south-west to north-east may be slightly easier, because of the prevailing winds.  Whatever.  It's nearly 1,000 miles and I'm expecting to be out of puff and to have a sore bottom either way.

The more fundamental reason for doing this is to support Adoption UK, a charity that provides support pre-, during and post-adoption and in so doing aims to increase the chances of successful adoptions and improve the life chances of the children involved.  I chose the charity because - no heavy symbolism needed here - my wife and I adopted two children 5 years ago (no names online please, those of you who know them).

Adoption has been a very positive experience throughout for us (and we hope for our children!) but some of you have shared our various ups and downs and we know that adopting can bring its own unique challenges, alongside the challenges faced by all parents.  So we hope you'll take the opportunity to help other adoptive parents to get the support they need and to help adopted children to have a better life.  For a brief overview of some of the issues faced by adoptive families, see the link to 'The Wall' below.  Thank you very much for your support.

http://www.adoptionuk.org/information/103254/thewall/

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