Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

You may wonder what your donation is for, or indeed why you should donate at all.....

Leaving home at the end of August, I will endeavor to find my way across Africa, unaided, to Dakar ( Timbuctu shelved due to home office advice ).......and back!

This has been made possible by Leicestershire County Council graciously granting me 6 months leave of absence from work . When it was suggested to me to support the Leicestershire Air Ambulance I couldn't have thought of a more deserving cause- let's hope nobody reading this will ever require their services, but if they do the Air Ambulance might just make the difference between life and death.

The trip has been meticulously planned, over many months, by myself......those plans are now in the bin! Things have been thrown into disarray by Iran's refusal to grant me entry into there wonderful country, prompted by this I have just purchased a compass and have a fair sense of direction so I will make it up as I go along! Sorry to be vague but the only end result will hopefully be me getting to Timbuktu in a round-about-sort-of-way. As anyone with CSE Geography will know Iran is not en route to Timbuktu...it just seemed a mighty fine place to travel through.

This is a trip of a lifetime solely saved up and paid for by myself with no outside assistance.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Stuart

many thanks to http://www.bikersbedsfrance.co.uk/ and http://german-rhineland.com/ for accommodation and norfolkline.com for ferry crossings also Ivan at www.grd.be for accommodation and inspiration www.calipau-sahara.com  for free accommodation, assistance from starik engineering the ktm dealers in Israel (top people), free coffee and life saving chocolates at Patisserie pakpinar Girne, Cyprus  and so many other individuals that have shown me such great hospitality and kindness.

blog..............http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/stu-dowell/

twitter........... twitter.com/studowell

facebook.... .facebook.com/stu.dowell

or email         stuart.dowell@ntlworld.com