The event is now complete: read report at 

The challenge: 250 km cycle in two days, touring Britain’s aquifers

The cause: Friends in Action, who have been in operation in rural Burkina Faso since 2005 drilling clean water wells

Christopher Barry and Logan Mills are setting out to cycle from Bristol to Birmingham on a route that crosses 5 of Britain’s 6 major water-providing rocks to support the drilling of clean drinking water wells in rural Burkina Faso.

Christopher is intending to travel to Burkina Faso in March 2015 to join Friends in Action on a two-week voluntary team.  Half of money raised will fund this trip, the remainder will go direct to the charity.  No donations will be used to fund the cycle challenge.

Please show your support by sponsoring us on this challenge.  We would also be helped by the lending of relevant maps.

The route will start from the station in Bristol, heading south to the aptly-named town Wells in the Mendip Hills, made of Carboniferous Limestone.  from there we will head east, through the Lower Greensand and then into Chalk at Marlborough.  From there we will head north through Swindon and the Cotswolds, crossing Jurassic Oolithic Limestone sequences.  We will then arrive in Stratford-upon-Avon following the canal north to the University of Birmingham, which lies on Permo-Triassic Sandstone.  All going well, the journey will take an evening and two full days, covering about 270 km.

We are excited to be supporting Friends in Action, who expertly combine good engineering with compassionate work alongside the communities they seek to bless.  A testament to their technical expertise is their success rate in drilling – 75% produce water compared to the national average there of 55%.  And their careful consideration and involvement of the communities: of the approximately 200 wells they have constructed, only one has fallen into disrepair, so they have been well maintained by the villages.  The Friends in Action team are motivated by a Christian conviction shared by us.

To read even more about the charity, visit their website at www.fiaintl.org

or read Christopher’s article about their work at

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.