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I am heading off on a long bike ride from John O'Groats to Land's End (it's down hill going that way) hoping to raise some money for St Margaret's Hospice who took care of my Mum in the last weeks of her life.

You can follow my progress on twitter by following @Gregs_JOGLE I will be starting around the 9th of July and (hope) to be finished in about 2 weeks.

My Mum Gina was a fiercely independent woman who lived in a tiny village up in Scotland. She was definitely of the 'Keep Calm and Carry on' mindset. She was tough, but at the same time the most loving parent anybody could hope to have and I miss her every single day.

She rarely went to the doctor as she didn't like to make a 'fuss' and this sadly meant that when she did get ill to the extent she felt she did need a doctor, well, by then it was simply too late, the cancer had spread throughout her body and there was not much that could be done other than to make her comfortable.

Being up in Scotland made supporting her through this really difficult as  my family and I live 450 miles away in Somerset.

This is where St Margaret's Hospice came to the rescue. They are less than 10 miles from our home and they agreed to take my Mum and give her the complicated care she needed. I can't begin to explain how much this meant to us. My Mum got to spend the last few weeks of her life with her family around her. She got to spend time with our 9 year old daughter, my wife and I could visit at any time of the day or night, and the staff supported us all with care, compassion, understanding, and patience.

I'd also like to mention my next door neighbour Malcolm. St Margaret's helped care for him a few years ago too. He was a lovely man, always positive and cheerful. I am really grateful they helped him during his long illness. I will be thinking about him too as I cover the miles. It all goes to show how many people's lives St Margaret's have touched.

That is why I wanted to do something that felt big.

I can never repay St Margaret's for what they did for us, money just doesn't tell enough of a story - BUT money does help the good people at St Margaret's do for others what they did for us.

That's why it felt right for an unfit middle-aged man with a bit of extra padding round the middle to cycle a long way to encourage people to donate to St Margaret's. I think my Mum would approve of the hardship - 'nothing comes easy' she used to say, and I don't think this is going to be easy for me!

I've been training for this for months and months (and in the process managed to lose some of the  padding and improve my fitness a bit), so I think I do stand a fighting chance of making it, though I'm not entirely sure how long it's going to take me. I have made plans, but lots can happen to change plans on a ride like this so I'm keeping them to myself for now :-)

My wife and daughter will be the support team - driving ahead to set up camp, making sure I have enough to eat, carrying spare bits and bobs - that sort of thing - so thank you in advance to them both.

I hope to post updates as I go along on my twitter feed @Gregs_JOGLE (mobile signal and battery allowing) so please feel free to send messages of encouragement (or ridicule, I'm sure that will make me smile too).

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