***  700 Miles completed!

The children were there throughout the final day outside the Florence Nightingale Hospice shop in Thame to provide support, encouragement and lots of laughter!

We received visits from family and friends from all around the country – and calls from Australia, Hong Kong and America.

Donations for the day from passers-by are still to be counted but, even before we began, the increased fundraising target had been comfortably exceeded.

I have been completely overwhelmed by people’s generosity and by the many beautiful messages of support – and I hope eventually to find a way to thank everyone appropriately.

I simply could not have wished for a better tribute to Jacky. ***

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July 29th will be the first anniversary of my wife Jacky’s death. It is simply impossible to describe what she endured – with such courage and dignity – throughout the 13 months that she lived with her illness.

Jacky spent her final four weeks at the Florence Nightingale Hospice in Aylesbury, who provided levels of care, compassion and love I would not have believed possible. By the time that Jacky arrived at the hospice, she was unable to walk and could utter just the occasional word. I virtually lived at the hospice with her.

During the many hundreds of hours spent quietly at her bedside, holding her hand, I vowed that when the time was right I would, for Jacky’s sake, find a way to raise money for this outstandingly wonderful organisation.

On July 21st, I will begin a challenge to cycle 700 miles in just seven days. The first 600 miles (over six days) will be completed around the undulating Buckinghamshire countryside (all officially monitored). The final 100 miles will be done on a static bike outside the hospice shop in Thame where I help out two days a week. All the family will be there in support with buckets to take donations from passers-by. My aim is to raise £12,500 by the end of the challenge (Note: this was originally set for £10,000 but we have already passed this target due to everyone's incredible generosity. I've been overwhelmed by both the support and the lovely messages which I will keep with me throughout the ride and long after).

For those of you who so generously supported me seven years ago, I can absolutely guarantee that this is my final challenge! While I continue to cycle regularly, my weekly mileage is under 100 miles so I will be seriously out of my comfort zone (the challenge apparently equates to running in excess of seven marathons in seven days). 

It is a very ambitious fundraising target, so I very much hope you will be able to help.

Many thanks in anticipation.

Rod