At the end of May I'll be setting off on my bike from Land’s End (the southern-most tip of Cornwall) to  John O' Groats (the most northern tip of Scotland) to raise money for charity. I’m making the journey with 5 other chaps and a support van. All-in-all it’s around 1,000 miles and the aim is to get there in 10 days at a 100 miles a day.
 
I’m asking you to help me raise money for my chosen charity - Chance UK. This fantastic growing organisation finds mentors for children between 5 and 11 who are at risk. The mentors provide some structure and stability, as well as good role models for kids who are felt to be becoming unmanageable. The program is very successful and makes a big difference to lots of children's lives. It means a lot to me as my father - who many of you know died last August and was the founder of Invitation to Tuscany - would often take on young kids who were going off the rails - usually older than these, around 16-20, and get them to work as labourers with him on building sites. The combination of hard work, seeing the results of your work, being paid and my father's inquisitive persistence that they explain their life-choices to him, and his respect of their opinions turned them into strong, self-assured young men and turned them away from hard drugs.
 
I find it fantastic that there are people in London doing a similar thing - probably with more modern methods! - and that children that could be lost at the edges of the system are being given the confidence to make the right choices, and the knowledge that there are people out there who care about what happens to them - and about what they do.
It takes around £4000 to mentor a child for a year, and that this has been calculated to save £40,000 before the child reaches 18 in other social costs - and that's a conservative estimate. But beyond the cost, I find it invaluable that there is a way to give these children, that others are writing off, a chance to find their feet, their confidence and give them a better start in life. So I hope you'll help me trying to support them - I've set the bar at £4000 as it represents a mentor for a year, but I'd love to be able to make more for them. I'll do the pedalling - if you can find a little money for Chance UK to do what it does so well..

Here's what the Charity say about what they do:
"Chance UK mentors meet with a child who has behavioural difficulties for 2-4 hours, once a week, for year. They do activities together such as sports, visiting museums, creating a scrapbook…anything that will enthuse and engage a child. The mentor will use specific techniques to build the child’s self esteem, so that their confidence, education and family life all change for the better. Not only does this change the child’s life and their prospects, but their parent / carer, teacher, siblings and classmates also benefit from the positive changes the child makes.
 
Some key statistics:
·        Chance UK has over 120 mentors working with children all over London, and another 80 via our partnership programmes nationwide.
·        It costs £4,000 per year to mentor a child – compare this with the annual cost of as much as £200,000 of an adult involved in criminal activity.
·        Chance UK is an early intervention programme. Research by Action for Children shows that for every £1 spent on early intervention projects, society saves between £7.20 and £9.60 further down the line.
·        Advertising costs Chance UK the equivalent of just £50 per mentor, each of whom changes the life of a child and their family forever."

So there you go.
 
The ride will be hard - I find it difficult enough to cycle a hundred miles in a day - to think of doing for 10 days continuously is daunting. But the roads will get emptier and the landscape more beautiful as we go north - I love Scotland and the wild landscape. And apparently the wind is on your back most of the way if you go South to North, so I hope that helps...
Here's the cycling program - and I'll keep you up to date with our training program too:
 
Day 1 - Land's End to Okehampton

Day 2 - Okehampton to Bristol

Day 3 - Bristol to Church Stretton

Day 4 - Church Stretton to Preston

Day 5 - Preston to Gretna

Day 6 - Gretna to Stair

Day 7 Stair to Tynedrum

Day 8 - Tynedrum to Drumnadrochit

Day 9 - Drumnadrochit to Helmsdale

Day 10 - Helmsdale to John O'Groats

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Training day in Norfolk:

 
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