This is me on my last cycle tour. Having the time of my life - which I'm sure is obvious from the picture, and crucially, the moment I was promising myself that I would "never cycle tour again".

So when I was approached recently and asked to cycle across a rather large and barren country for charity, I obligingly, and no doubt regrettably, agreed. As it turns out, Ethiopia is actually green and mountainous - so out with the flat and barren, and in with the steep and never-ending hill climbs. Excellent news all round.

Hindsight, has put this down to two main factors: a) having recently implemented my new "life be in it" regime which involves seizing opportunities as they arise, and b) I had just finished reading "The Yes Man" which made me unrealistically optimistic about my ability to cycle across the aforementioned desert and raise £2000. (Also Kitty has been locked up a bit lately and deserves the chance to get out and about a bit!)

So I find myself in the unenviable situation of needing to raise a minimum of £2000 to be eligible to participate in this challenge. I am happy to donate enough to cover my costs of this adventure, which means that every penny donated will go directly to the Ethiopian babies of the future. So now, I only need to raise about £1500. More than this would allow us to help more babies.

In Ethiopia, it costs £15 to ensure a safe birth for mother and child, which is a lot considering that the average Ethiopian earns £110 a year.

By my calculations therefore, this requires 100 people to support one safe birth each. However, I don't have 100 people on my "potential sponsor list" so I figure the target could also be reached by 50 people supporting two safe births. Or 300 people providing IV fluids and drugs for one safe caesarean (£5). Given I don't have 100 people, I am unlikely to secure over 200 extra randoms for this cause. 

If you want to see how much money will buy what maternity services in Ethiopia, please visit http://www.maternityworldwide.org/donate.html and you can learn all about the charity as well.

Of course, they are still looking for volunteer cyclists so if you have a couple of spare weeks in November, and fancy cycling through the desert and raising £2000, do get in touch!

Thanks very much for being such a willing supporter of this worthy cause.

I only hope I make it home alive.