Thanks for taking the time to visit my just giving page.

My dad has recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, a progressive neurological condition, which as the shock of diagnosis hit him, finally gave him the additional leverage (and rightly so) after years of trying; to guilt trip me into a trekking adventure with him.
Some of my best memories as a child are going out on weekends with my dad, walking, rambling and rock climbing with my friends and other family members. As is perhaps normal I grew up and grew out of the great outdoors, however my dad continued to develop his love of these pursuits and on leaving the Police after 30 years service decided to turn this passion into a new career. For the last 18 years he has led hundreds of people on trekking and cycling trips and expeditions to areas such as the Amazon and Costa Rica Rain Forests, countless mountain summits including Mt Kenya and Kilimanjaro - quite recently his 22nd ascent. Other guiding adventures include travel to Peru, Nepal, China, Jordan, Iceland, Canada, Sri Lanka and Madagascar to name but a few. This in addition to countless trips in the UK. Many of these trips have involved people raising money for a whole host of charity's including and coincidentally Parkinson's UK. In his role as a Mountain Leader I know he has been inspirational in bringing out the best in individuals raising money for loved ones in order to help them succeed and making these trips enormously unique and memorable.
Which is why this diagnosis feels so unfair to everyone who knows him. So now it is my turn and the reason why I have without too much arm twisting agreed on what might be a last hurrah for my dad and join him on what I know is one of his favourite and regular trips - a trek of 100km over 6 days across the Sahara Desert. A daunting prospect for me. Am I mad? only time will tell but I am now strangely enjoying the prospect of the event and the experience of training for it. With my new found trekking legs, rucksack and boots and with the huge support of family and friends who are also coming along for the jaunt and without who I couldn’t do this I am determined to make my Dad proud and share what I hope will not be his last adventure.