It's time for a tough challenge to raise some much needed funds for our UK charity partners, Refuge.  I will be attempting to ride from London to Edinburgh in 5 days, covering 850km (525miles) with over 10,000M (33,000ft) of total climbing. This will be a longest and hardest physical effort for me in several years. A group of 20 of us from Credit Suisse will be leaving Canary Wharf on Monday July 18th and will be aiming to finish at Edinburgh Castle on Friday July 22nd. These will be all new roads for me as the route goes through Cambridgeshire, Peak District, South Pennines, Yorkshire Dales, North Pennines and crossing the borders through to Edinburgh. 

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One in four women will experience domestic abuse in her lifetime. Two women a week are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales alone. Refuge's National Domestic Abuse Helpline is a gateway to domestic abuse services across the country and is often the first place a woman experiencing domestic abuse will receive the emotional and practical support she needs. At the start of the pandemic the Helpline experienced a 64% increase in calls and contacts, incoming and outgoing. Visits to the National Domestic Abuse Helpline website increased seven-fold. Even though lockdowns have been lifted demand remains high. Credit Suisse aim to support Refuge's National Domestic Abuse Helpline to provide more support sessions to women, implement a new contact centre platform to increase efficiency and enable the team to speak to more women and provide enhanced support to women seeking refuge facing additional barriers to accessing support.