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Jenny, my sister-in-law, died of leukaemia in Spain in July 2010. She had lived in Spain most of her life.

As the first anniversary of her death approaches, I would like to do something in her memory and as we spent several happy occasions in Barcelona, that is a good place to focus on. Jenny was ill for rather more than a year and received excellent care, but we have no idea of what caused the disease or what real chance there was of a cure. That's why I would like to raise some funds for leukaemia research.

It's about 800 miles (1300 km) door to door from Hindhead to Barcelona and I have 14 days to do the journey. Although I used to cycle to work - up to 40 miles in each direction - that was many years ago. I have never attempted a really long ride before, so it's going to be a challenge. There are some Pyrenees in the way, said to be taller than our local Black Down and Hindhead put together, to make it more interesting.

I have been doing a bit of training and have manged to cycle over 60 miles in a day, and up to 200 miles in a week. The ride starts from Hindhead on the afternoon of 7 June 2011. The first leg of the journey is to Portsmouth and the St Malo ferry. Once in France I will stay fairly close to the western coast, passing through St Nazaire, Saintes and Bordeaux, then across the Landes (or perhaps along beside the Garonne canal) to the Pyrenees southeast of Tarbes. The route in Spain is less obvious; there doesn't seem to be anywhere well-known until shortly before Barcelona. Further research is required.

Fitness will, I hope, increase as the journey progresses. Developments will be recorded in a blog:

http://pad-longridesouth.blogspot.com/  (You will need to cut and paste this link if you want to see it.)

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Update,  10 July 2011

The ride went very well. I reached Barcelona 12 days after leaving home, still feeling reasonably fresh - certainly able to cycle further, had that been necessary, and walking about quite comfortably. The worst bit, immediately after the ride, was climbing flights of stairs.

The weather was generally good. I only needed the foul weather gear once, on top of a Spanish Pyrenee. The total distance ridden was 863 miles, which included getting lost several times: an average of a little over  70 miles per day (more in France, less in Spain, because of the uneven terrain there). The longest distance covered in one day was 107 miles, from Rochefort to Bordeaux.

The bike performed perfectly and required virtually no maintenance, just a little air in the tyres a couple of times and a tightening-up of the brakes following some long descents.

Of course, there were good days and bad days, but knowing that people had 'invested' in the ride helped to keep me going when morale was low. The fundraising side of things has been going unexpectedly well, and I continue to be amazed by people's generosity.