Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I started this year feeling like I needed to do something for my mental health. I was feeling sluggish, I was finding life a bit more challenging, my kids have got older, my world has become more complicated, and I needed to do something about it.

So I set myself a challenge. And it’s a real challenge for me - a challenge that I’m genuinely not even sure I can do. I’d like to think I can, otherwise I wouldn’t be putting myself in this position, but it’s definitely a little bit above my pay grade.

I’m doing this for my own reasons, for my own mental health, but I also wanted it to help other people. There didn’t seem much point in doing it unless it could be beneficial to someone else as well.

The best way I could think of doing that was to support a charity. The charity that’s closest to my heart is Temwa. It’s a Bristol-based charity run by a good friend of mine, Jo Hook, and I believe wholeheartedly in what they do. They’ve been working with communities in northern Malawi for years, helping to create lasting change through things like education, healthcare and sustainable livelihoods. The work they do is genuinely life-changing for thousands of people. If I can play even a tiny part in helping Temwa continue doing that work, then this challenge will be worth it.

So, with that in mind, the challenge I’ve set myself is to ride from Land’s End to John o’Groats, solo, entirely off-road.

It’s going to take 24 days, riding around 50 miles and 1500 meters of climbing a day, without a single rest day.

People think I’m mad. I think I might be mad.

I’m no endurance athlete. I’ve never done anything like this before, so we’ll find out together whether it’s even possible. But I’m going to give it absolutely everything I’ve got.

It’s taking a huge amount of organising, and there are parts of it that genuinely scare me. The weather is one. Spending that much time completely on my own is another. In some ways, they’re more daunting than the miles themselves. If anything, riding the bike might actually be the easiest part.

I’ll be reporting back as I go, with help from my team - and by “team” I mainly mean my wonderful wife, Han, who a lot of you know - along with the brilliant people at Temwa. We’ll share updates here so you can follow where I am, what I’m doing, and hopefully how I’m getting on. I can’t promise it won’t be a bit boring at times… but I’ll do my best.

A lot of people have shown an interest already, which honestly means a lot, so I thought I’d share the journey and hopefully bring a few of you along with me.

I set off on the 4th of September, which suddenly feels very close.

If you’re able to, I’d really appreciate any support you can give to Temwa. Every donation will help them carry on doing the incredible work they do in Malawi, and knowing that there’s a growing total behind me will give me even more reason to keep pedalling when things get tough.

Thank you so much, and hopefully… I’ll see you on the other side.