Stephen McPake
The Andes Trail
Fundraising for SOS Children's Villages UK
Story
On August 6th 2010 we start “The Andes Trail” which is a cycling expedition that covers a distance of 11,000 km in less than 5 months.
We will be cycling with a small international group starting at the equator monument close to Quito in Ecuador. We hope to arrive safe and sound after 128 days of cycling through five countries in Ushuaia, the most southern point of South-America, also called the “End-of-the-World”.
The distance of the daily stages vary between 60 and 160 km. We will defy bad roads, heat, primitive circumstances, thin air, illness and other physical inconveniences.
There are hundreds of reasons not to participate and you may be thinking why are we doing this? The event is first of all a great challenge which will take us through some fascinating environments which will be changing continuously. The second is to help Bike Dreams (the event organisers) raise money for SOS Children's Villages.
We are in a fortunate enough position in the Western world that we grew up in relative freedom and luxury. Life is very different, for millions of children. They have limited choices, and their fate is often restricted by unforeseen circumstances. These children have little or no future.
Bike Dreams has been supporting the good work of SOS Children's Villages since 2006. And we hope to help this continuing support by raising money through donations for the children who deserve better. To find out more about SOS Children's Villages International go to http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/What-we-do/Pages/default.aspx