To commemorate forty years of kidney services in Kent twenty-five members of the renal department are embarking on a two day cycle ride, passing through the main unit in Canterbury and the five satellite Kidney Care Centres.

Day one starts at Medway Martine Hospital following local cycle paths to Maidstone Hospital before picking up the North Downs Pilgrims Way to the William Harvey Hospital and finishing outside the dialysis unit at the Kent & Canterbury Hospital (60 miles).

On day two the route carries on northwards to Reculver, picking up the Viking Coastal trail to the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital and then heading south through Sandwich and Deal to finish at Buckland Hospital (55 miles).

The challenge is in aid of the Alan Squirrell Artificial Kidney Unit Trust, a local charity set up in 1967 which was instrumental in establishing kidney services in Kent with opening of the first kidney unit in Canterbury in December 1971. Since then the trust has provided ongoing support to people suffering from kidney disease and assisted research into chronic and acute kidney failure.