In case you didn´t know, I'm currently walking the Camino de Santiago, a 780km pilgrimage route from St Jean Pied de Port on the French side of the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela in the northwest corner of Spain (though for the record I'm doing it for the challenge rather than for any specific religious or spiritual reasons). Seeing as how I'm now a bit over a third of the way through this trek, it occurred to me that more should come of it than blisters, tendinitis, hay fever, and the occasional hangover (the wine here is very cheap). And the fact that I'm being sponsored will give me the extra motivation to actually complete the Camino, rather than succumb to one of the problems listed above and resort to bus/taxi/sod-it-I'm-going-to-the-beach.

So I´ve picked two charities, which have to be on separate pages for reasons to do with GiftAid legislation. This page is for Shelter, the charity that works to alleviate the distress caused by homelessness and bad housing.

The other page is for St Raphael's hospice, a charity local to where I grew up (and where my mum happens to do some voluntary work), and can be found here:

http://www.justgiving.com/Dermot-Lewis1

I'm aiming for a total of 780 quid (sorry, can't find the pound sign on this Spanish keyboard), which would mean that between you all, you'd have sponsored me one whole pound per kilometre. Not too much to ask is it?

Ideally, I'd like the money to be split evenly between the two charities, so unless you have a particular preference for one of the charities, I'd appreciate it if you gave money to the one that has the lowest amount donated when you come to donate.

Many thanks in advance for your donations.

And here's some reassuring bumph about JustGiving:

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.