Back in January Nick decided to get himself a bike and get fit. One afternoon he called and spun an elaborate story about a failed European project in the 1980s to build a dedicated cycle path from to – the only surviving relic being a large sculpture at the road side somewhere near Moffat. I could sense that Nick was concocting some crazy plan and I knew what was coming next… "Do you wanna come?" he asked. "Are you nuts?" I replied "it's a 1000 miles!”

Over the next couple of weeks the idea slowly sunk in. I got myself a road bike and started putting in the miles. At first it was tough. But as the weeks flew by I found myself cycling further and further and actually starting to enjoy myself. Then I watched Mark Beaumont on the telly Cycling the Americas and I was hooked!

So now Nick and I are doing it. We're carrying all our kit - tents, sleeping bags, clothes, cooker etc on our bikes and we've worked out a route down to Portsmouth and then from Le Havre to Toulouse. Here's the plan:

Sunday 29th August - Leave George Square, Glasgow

   ... cycle 1000 miles...

Saturday 11th September - Arrive Place du Capitole, Toulouse

Sunday 12^th September – Slap up meal and a few well earned beers – it's also my birthday!

The return flight is booked so there's no getting out of it now!!

It's a great adventure but also a great opportunity to raise some money. I've decided to raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland. Wouldn't it be great to raise £1 for every mile cycled?

Thanks in advance for your support and I'll be posting daily updates of our progress on my Facebook page, which you can find here.

This page is for donations to Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland. I'd like to raise £1000 for each charity so if your pockets are deep enough please vist my Cystic Fibrosis Trust page too - thanks!

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.