Last summer my dad Simon bought me a bike. Four days later I asked him to take me on a long bike ride. The next day we rode from London to Birmingham along the Grand Union Canal towpath. It was 240 km and took us two days. It was pretty hard work but an amazing journey through rural England.

My dad is an Oculoplastic surgeon and he spends time every year doing voluntary work  abroad for medical charities. One of his favourite charities is Facing The World who specialize in Craniofacial reconstruction in Vietnam and other developing countries. He has told and shown me some of the amazing work that they do. 

The occurrence of severe facial birth defects is by some estimates 10 times higher in Vietnam than in neighbouring countries. Many believe this to be the result of the effects of the dioxins in Agent Orange (used prolifically in the Vietnam war) which are thought to have caused a mutation in the genetic make-up.  Facing the World works to enable life-changing surgery for those affected.

So last years ride was in aid of Facing The World and we raised £712.  This year we intend to support Facing The World again but to go somewhat further both in terms of target to raise and distance travelled. Having just finished my GCSE exams my summer term has now ended and rather than head straight to the beach I thought it was time to have another adventure. On the 21st June we will travel to John O'Groats in the far north of Scotland and set off in the direction of Land's End in Cornwall, the so called 'end to end' trip. We will be doing this unsupported with no back up vehicle. We are travelling on quiet roads, tracks and towpaths and nights will be spent either wild camping, staying with friends along the route and the occasional bed and breakfast. Our route distance totals 1874 km and height climbed will be twice that of Everest. 

We expect it will take us around 16 days to get to Lands End, bikes and bodies permitting. But nothing in life is certain and it is also possible that we may not get to the Lands End. One thing is for sure  though and that is that we will try our hardest, have a lot of fun and a great adventure whatever happens and wherever our journey ends. 

Facing the World (FTW) has pioneered a bold new approach to sustainable healthcare, resulting in self-run centres of excellence in the countries that they work in. This approach ensures that children born with facial differences can receive the surgery they need, and that these centres can be replicated both nationally and internationally. FTW aims to train a further 200 doctors over 5 years to achieve 40,000 surgeries. Their goal is to raise £3.5 million - will you help us raise a part of it?!

Please follow this link to see more about FTW and the amazing work they do -

https://facingtheworld.net