Now, I should start by saying that me and Marlon aren't cyclists. I got a bike 5 months ago and that was the first time I'd ridden a bike in 12 years and Marlon's never cycled more than 20 miles in a day. 

What are we doing?

The jist is - we're strapping all of our camping equipment to our bikes and jetting off into the sunset from Land's End (bottom of England) to John 'O Groats (top of Scotland), hoping to achieve on average around 50 miles per day on a rather indirect but scenic route of ~1300 miles. At this rate we'll make it to the tip of Scotland in a participation-trophy amount of time at 26 days. With the record at around 44 hours, we think we'll skip the time-trial element of the challenge. 

Why?

Because we want to. Oh, and also it's a brilliant opportunity to raise some money for charity - in this case, The Mustard Tree. In short, they provide much needed support for those in extreme poverty or for those experiencing homelessness in Greater Manchester. I've worked with them directly through WSP so I have seen the difference they make to people's lives. I'd recommend checking our their website for more info at https://mustardtree.org.uk/. Here's an extract of what they do:

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"Our work is not just with people who are rough sleeping, we work to tackle the causes as well as the consequences of homelessness. As a result, our client group comes from various backgrounds and experience multiple barriers:

Stated background                                 % of service users      

Poor mental health                                        49%

Recovering from addictions                        17%

Homeless or at risk of homelessness       18%

Offending                                                        20%

Refugee/asylum seeker status                   35%

Disability/learning difficulty/ill health        27%

More than one of the above                      37%

Irrespective of background, everyone who comes to Mustard Tree is treated as an individual – we move away from simply categorising someone as homeless, unemployed, an asylum seeker, or someone with an offending background and tailor our services to create opportunities which enable people to meet their self-determined goals.

This holistic, flexible, person-centred approach, in a safe and welcoming space enables people to ultimately achieve greater resilience and wellbeing."

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If you were on the fence about donating; here's the clincher. My work (WSP) will be matching whatever is raised, so your donation is essentially doubled!

I'll be posting updates as we get closer to the start as well as progress updates en-route. 

If you want to follow our journey you can see updates on our Instagram and we'll be posting videos on our YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCutA-pu4M_Br5ebN1CnpFHw

https://www.instagram.com/too_far_gone_tours/

Thanks for taking the time to read, I hope you are able to chip in for this great cause.

All the best,

Adam and Marlon x