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I am ex Royal Air Force ( a long time ago ).

I live in the High -Peak area of Derbyshire and my local war memorial has the name - Flt Lt Bill Astell DFC on it.

He was a local man and in 1943 was a pilot on the newly formed RAF 617 Squadron. The Dambusters as they became.

On the night of the 16 th May 1943 him and his crew set off on the first attacking wave of 9 Lancaster's, tasked with destroying the Mohne Dam in Germany.

Sadly in the early hours of the 17 th May, his aircraft was shot down near Marbeck in Germany.

All 7 crew killed.

At the edge of the crash site is a memorial to them.

On the 16 th May this year I will have a wreath blessed at the war memorial in Chapel En Le Frith by the local vicar.

This will be the anniversary of the night in 1943 that the Lancaster's took off at dusk from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire.

On Friday 23 rd May I will leave my home address and pedal the 120 miles to Hull docks on a child's Raleigh Chopper bike. No mean feat as I am 6 foot 4 and the wrong side of 15 stone !!

Unfortunately I know the challenge that lies before me as this will be my 3rd Raleigh Chopper challenge.

In 2018 for charity I rode from Coast to Coast ( 132 miles ) from Whitehaven to Tynemouth. This was over 3 days.

A year later having forgotten the pain and suffering, and again for charity I repeated this route again on the same Chopper bike.

Riding non - stop through the night, 3 of us all on these little bikes managed the same journey in 15 hours and 46 minutes.

This was easily the hardest challenge I have completed.

On disembarking at Rotterdam I will then pedal the approximately 180 miles to Marbeck, arriving on Wednesday 28 th May.

I will lay the wreath at the memorial and say a few words, this will conclude the challenge.

In World War Two, RAF Bomber Command suffered appalling losses.

Out of 125,000 aircrew ( all volunteers), 55,573 made the ultimate sacrifice. Most were under 25.

I am doing this for them.

LEST WE FORGET.

I am also completing this challenge to raise money for MIND - mental health charity.

If you wish to donate to MIND I have set up a separate Just giving page.

Regards

Douglas