**Edit - in light of the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria, I am now cycling from Istanbul > London to raise money for both the Ukraine and Turkey & Syria Save the Children Appeals. I have 3 weeks to do so, during which I will cover 3275km and cumulatively climb Everest twice**

‘We protect the vulnerable because to be British is to be compassionate’. 

It’s rare you quote any politician when talking about humanity, let alone a conservative chancellor who has just stepped up to the dispatch box to deliver a budget. However, having just levelled Trussonomics at the back end of 2022, Jeremy Hunt’s words struck a chord. 

It is hard to exaggerate the toll that the international armed conflict in Ukraine has had on civilians in recent months. Everyone’s read the news; everyone’s seen what is happening. Bucha, bakmut, Mariupol, previously unknown Ukrainian towns, now synonymous with the unimaginable humanitarian crises currently enveloping the country. For me, other than voice support, it’s always felt difficult to actually help. However, I’ve got some time before I start a new job, so want to do something more, and hopefully help some of the millions living in these utterly desperate conditions. 

As a result, and sanctimony aside, I’m going to cycle to Ukraine in aid of Save the Children. Not on a watt bike in the comfort on my local gym, but tent on tyres, and tyres on tarmac. Goal is to get to Kyiv, and log 2400km along the way. There are hundreds of charities I could have chosen but, to put it bluntly, being a child is about pretending to shoot fake guns, not dodging bullets from real ones. It’s making dens in your basement for fun, not to take cover from artillery. I feel so lucky to have had the childhood I did, and it’s heartbreaking knowing that a generation of kids will look back on that time not with happiness but PTSD. The first casualty of war is innocence.

If it’s too dangerous to go into Ukraine, I’ll make up the remaining miles cycling along the border.

Please give generously.