Dear friends,

 Hullo! I'll be doing a small charity jog down the length of Ireland, Malin to Mizen, from the 1st to 12th October of this year.

 I'll be running 400 miles in total, at a clip of about 33 miles a day (slightly more than a marathon).  

 This is to benefit Macmillan Cancer Support, and follows on from my Land's End-John o'Groats cycle last October, for a new portable CT scanner for Royal London Hospital's Trauma Unit. Both were unaccompanied and solo, and each as bad an idea as the other.

 I'll be tweeting from the road, with stories about the people I meet as I traverse Ireland—at https://twitter.com/CyclingPaddy—as well as on a page on Facebook. Do chip in with messages of support or encouragement, even inventive slagging.  They go a long way to keep my spirits up, and me at least as sane as I get.
 
  There will be a dinner in the House of Lords once I return, in the Peers' Dining Room on the 18th October.  I hope to see many of you there, and promise I'll have a long shower between Mizen and then.  (For a few more details: https://www.facebook.com/events/154452241418959)

 Just like last year, I will be arriving at the finish line on the 12th October, which is the anniversary of my mother's death, in whose honour I'm running.
 
 Incidentally, though there have been others to run Malin-Mizen—including the very redoubtable John McCann (who has done this thrice), and the inspiring and heroic Mimi Anderson (who holds the world record)—I will be doing it without a support team.  This is mostly because I don't know anyone with a car.
 
 with all very best wishes, and many thanks, 
Paddy

Planned stages (may be adjusted slightly with kind offers of digs...)

1st October: Malin Head – Derry/Londonderry (32 miles)

2nd October: Derry/Londonderry - Omagh: 33 miles (possible watering stop in Lifford/Strabane....)

3d October: Omagh – Enniskillen: 25 miles

4th October: Enniskillen – Ballinamore, Co Leitrim: 24.1 miles

5th October: Ballinamore – Longford: 25.7 miles

6th October: Longford to Athlone: 28 miles

7th October: Athlone to Portumna, Co. Galway: 35 miles

8th October: Portumna to Limerick: 43.3 miles

9th October: Limerick to Buttevant, Co. Cork: 32.9 miles

10th October: Buttevant to Macroom, Co. Cork: 33.3 miles

11th October: Macroom to Bantry: 30 miles

12th October: Bantry to Mizen Head, hurrah; 30 miles