WE MADE IT!!  Thanks to the fabulous organisation of ExpeditionWise, the fantastic team of people we were with, and generous quantities of special creams...  But we still have tons of stuff to sell and several car boots to get through, so we're secretly hoping to hit £4k.  Many many thanks for all the support from everyone, you are all lovely.

 

Hi there, thanks for popping by to see us.  Both of us, and many of you, have been affected by cancer.  Vanessa was lucky enough to bounce back from a run-in with Lymphoma.  Alison was lucky enough to be given the chance to be a bone marrow donor for her brother, Ian.  Many of our dearest friends and family are survivors of, living with, or engaged in daily hand-to-hand combat with the Big C.  One of the worst aspects of joining the Big C Club (as a full member, guest or associate...) is the sense of helplessness - we're all big tough bossy types, and none of us takes well to a situation where we are not in control.

Cycling to Paris won't particularly help anything - other than maybe shift a few pounds and help us develop thick skin where we don't really need it.  Raising money for Macmillan is a bit more immediately useful, and we hope to raise enough to make a difference.  But really we're doing this because at least this way we're doing something.  Thanks for joining us.

Special hugs and love to Ian, Claire, Vicki, and in loving memory Emma L and Louise B. xx

And now 'the science bit'....

You're very welcome to give money direct, and we'll be delighted to accept it.

However, knowing how often we are all asked for money, we are trying to do things a bit differently.

YOU CAN DONATE JUNK AND STUFF that we will sell at car boot sales - get in touch and we'll pick it up.

YOU CAN SPONSOR OUR CYCLE TOUR T-SHIRTS - we will write anything you like on our backs in return for cash - help us to entertain the rest of the crew!

YOU CAN SUPPORT OUR OTHER ACTIVITIES - haven't quite worked them out yet, but it may involve parties, cakes, clothes - we'll let you know.

We are cycling on the London-Paris challenge (NB on August 27-30th 2010 - date on headline is wrong and I can't work out how to change it) just to have a goal and a deadline (we don't work well without one!).  WE ARE PAYING ALL OUR OWN EXPENSES so your donations are not funding our strange idea of a holiday - all the money raised will go to MacMillan.  We are of course absolutely terrified at the prospect of 200 miles in 3 days, and we haven't really started training yet.  But if we manage to get on our saddles we'll try to upload photos for your entertainment.

We're using this site to collect all our money together, wherever we raise it, so that we can see how we are doing.

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 - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.