Raising funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK

To say I'm a regular cyclist would be a stretch on anyones imagination, I can ride a bike and have done since I was very young, but I don't do it very often. In August 2011, I and around twenty friends and colleagues cycled from the Rako offices in Rochester, Kent to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The bike I used has been in the garage ever since, with flat tires and the Parisian dirt to show for it !

So, it's happening again and I'm totally unprepared, feeling as unfit as I ever have. Despite all this I am going to do it again this June, but this time the target is Belgian Brussels. The reason is two fold, I was stupid enough to say “sure” when David the organiser asked, but also because I feel quite humbled by the efforts others go to to raise awareness of a disease I don't know anyone hasn't been touched by, cancer. My personal experience of this was in June 2008 when we lost my mother to Pancreatic Cancer at the early age of 58. Like a lot of types of the disease, diagnosis is normally well past the stage when anything can be done. So charities like Pancreatic Cancer UK are both helping to find possible cures, but more importantly ways of making the last few weeks, months or years comfy for those effected.

Once again the journey will commence from the Rako offices, heading for Dover and a ferry crossing to Calais where we'll have our first overnight stay. The second day takes us just into Belgium to Leper, the third day to Aalst. Our final day, hopefully, will see everyone arrive in Brussels around lunchtime, enough time for a few photos, a Leffe and a hobble onto the Eurostar home. Due to not being able to use motorways, in total we will be covering approximately 200 miles. Not a big distance for regular cyclists, but quite a distance for someone who currently gets out of breath by walking to his car in the morning!

Unlike a lot of big “charity events”, non of the money I raise will go on my travel expenses, I am covering all of these personally. So if you could spare a few quid, it would really mean the world to me.

Many thanks

Paul