Thanks to so much to everyone who sponsored me or helped in other ways last year (2021)

This year I’m doing something different… check out justgiving.com/kathy-brewis-walks :-)

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Hello friends. I'm cycling the London to Brighton bike ride this September, 55 miles through rolling English countryside from the capital to the coast. That's 'rolling' as in hilly, which means it's quite challenging in parts, especially for an amateur who doesn't wear head-to-toe Lycra.

 been thinking about my mum a lot recently. She died of cancer nearly four years ago. She always wanted to be a doctor, but her parents couldn't afford to send her to medical school. She became an amazing teacher instead, but medicine remained an unfulfilled passion and dream for her. So I think she'd like the fact that I'm raising money for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).  

As you probably know, MSF is a global organisation that gets urgent medical help to people in war zones and other emergency situations. Its ambulances head right into the thick of it, with doctors and nurses ready to put their own lives on the line to save others. Really brave individuals doing amazing things for people they've never met. 

I wasn't a sporty kid so I think Mum would be surprised at how much cycling I've done since we first went into lockdown in March 2020. She would definitely have understood the feeling of freedom that cycling gives me. And I'd have told her that some of my happiest childhood memories are of going out on long bike rides, mostly on my own, exploring anywhere I liked and then coming home in time for tea. 

My mum was unfailingly supportive of all my adventures and misadventures over the years. She was an incredibly determined person who didn't take no for an answer. For example, she had polio in her twenties and was told she wouldn't walk again, but walk she did. I guess this taught me never to give up. Not to accept what someone else tells you is impossible. Thanks, Mum! 

If you'd like to donate a few quid to spur me on, I'll really appreciate it. It will give me an extra incentive to keep pedalling on to the end of the 55 miles and it will make a difference to people in life-or-death situations. People who find themselves caught up in the middle of a violent conflict or a disease outbreak. With MSF's intervention they have another chance at living. 

If you don't want to donate, maybe you could send me a cheery message on the morning of 19 September instead. Tell me to keep going and to drink lots of water. That would be an equally lovely gift. 

THANK YOU VERY MUCH for reading this, in any case! Kathy :-)

[Small print: Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and secure. Your money goes direct to the charity. Even if I were tempted to siphon some off for a celebratory beer at the end of the ride, or indeed a shiny new bike, I couldn't]