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This Summer I decided to embark on a big personal challenge on my bike and started planning a solo bike packing ride of more than 900 miles, from Biarritz in the Southwest of France to my home in Bristol, UK, starting on the 16th August 2022. At 64 years old I am not getting any younger and need to do these things while I still can! 

Whilst in the planning stage I remembered that my French speaking is very weak as evidenced by  the 4% I achieved in my mock O level exams many moons ago. To survive for 5-6 six weeks alone in France in a tent and on a bike I was going to need some help, fast!

I decided to seek out some emergency French conversation lessons and immediately thought of my good friend Dominique who although English by birth, was brought up speaking French, in France by his French mother.

Unfortunately,  Dominique has had a tough time of late though as he suffered a sudden and very severe stroke in May 2021 which nearly took his life. He is a very determined person though and despite effectively  losing the use of much of the left hand side of his body, and loss of some cognitive function resulting in slurred speech,  he set himself some ambitious goals for recovery. Many of which he has already achieved. 

I asked Dominique if he could assist me by giving me lessons in the run up to my ride, and although he was initially reticent he said he would give it a go. During our lessons he told me about a brilliant local  organisation called Bristol After Stroke who had supported him through his rehabilitation with both physical and emotional/psychological support. 

He told me that as soon as he is well enough to do so he intended to  organise a fundraiser for them, it was then that the idea came to me that I should use my bike ride to raise money for them too. Without Bristol After Stroke ,  Dominique may not have been well enough to teach me French and without Dominique teaching me French I would be just another post-Brexit  Englishman in France unable to communicate and (hopefully) find my way back home!

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