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My father, James Batho, and his bike were together a sort of mobile institution in Ashtead, Surrey, where he lived for more than 70 years. Every week day he would don suit, bowler hat and cycle clips, fix his umbrella to the purpose-built bracket, drop a brief case into the basket and head for the station and the train to London, returning regular as clockwork at 7.30.

For the last 10 years of his life he suffered increasingly from the cruel effects of Parkinson’s Disease and he died in 2009. As we cleared the family home the bike came to light in a corner of the garage, flat-tyred, rusty and festooned in a veil of cobwebs. Unable to say farewell to such an icon, it came home to my shed, where Oxfordshire spiders eagerly carried on the task begun by their Surrey kin.

Last autumn I decided in a moment of light-headedness to restore the bike to its former glory (it’s a Raleigh dating from the 1930s) and to take it on a Serious Expedition. So on 21 May I will take the train from Didcot to Oberalpass in the Swiss Alps, which is the source of the mighty river Rhine. I will point the basket north (and downhill) with the aim of reaching Hoek van Holland some 2 ½ weeks and 861 miles later.

Parkinson’s UK (www.parkinsons.org.uk) provides specialist nursing and support for those with the disease and their carers, and undertakes research to find a cure. My father benefitted enormously from the charity's work. One person in 500 suffers from Parkinson’s – most people will know someone who is affected. My ambition is to raise £4,000.

And for those who would like to follow my progress and share
the pain (vicariously at least) I will be setting up a blog, the address of
which will follow just as soon as I have found how to do it.

With enormous thanks for your generosity