My best friend of 37 years was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at the age of 39 and tragically passed away at the age of 48 in May of 2023. I have seen first hand how much this crippling disease takes away and just want to support the great work that Parkinson's UK do and also go some way to help fund research into a cure and supporting current and future sufferers of Parkinson's.

Rod was a very keen cyclist having followed the tour de France on a number of occasions and would think nothing of knocking out 50miles on a Saturday morning, so it is only fitting that we do a bike ride in his memory.

Myself and five friends will be riding from Wirksworth, Derbyshire where Rod grew up and went to school, to Dumfries, Scotland where he finally settled. We will be going via Rotherham (where Rod was born), and Chorley (where he settled for a while and has good family friends). We are looking at 80 miles per day over three days (Phew!).

I know Rod would have loved to do this ride so it is the perfect activity to do in his memory and I hope we can do it justice and raise plenty for a vitally important charity.

Thanks for reading and donating.