Cast your mind back to 2011: a glorious Easter Bank Holiday when the sun actually shone and we had an extended break to mark a Royal Wedding. So, whilst William and Kate tied the knot and the proletariat took some well-earned down time, two middle-aged fools on mountain bikes, full of “bucket list” whims of adventure, spent the best part of six sweat-filled, gear-grinding, lung-bursting days tackling the off-road coast-to-coast trail from St Bees on the Cumbrian west coast to Robin Hood's Bay on the Yorkshire coast.

“Surely we could do something similar in Scotland” Ian suggested on the first day, bikes shouldered as they scrambled up boulders on Black Sail Pass. “Let’s see if we survive this one first!” Andy wisely retorted, seriously doubting that they both had the stamina for the next six days. Nevertheless, the seed was sown.

The English coast-to-coast was indeed completed on time and all in one piece amid mutterings of 'Never again' and 'Over my dead body!' but it's taken a while for the courage (well, bravado) to return.

But now, four years on, with a second royal baby just arrived, the rose-tinted memories of the beauty of three National Parks traversed, mountains climbed and valleys descended render the tiring and sometimes extremely painful days, long forgotten. 

Despite copious and obviously sensible advice to the contrary, on 1st July 2015 Andy & Ian will be dusting off their mountain bikes and heading for the wild west coast of the Scottish Highlands to tackle 8300m of climbing and descending (that's over 27000ft in real money - Mount Everest is barely 29000ft!), along the rugged and challenging 260 mile Highland Coast-to-Coast trail.

Seven long days in the saddle (well, pushing mostly) await… 

Day 1 – Glenelg to Invergarry, 43 miles
Day 2 – Invergarry to Laggan,  32 miles
Day 3 – Laggan to Aviemore,  40 miles
Day 4 – Aviemore to Tomintoul,  37 miles
Day 5 – Tomintoul to Ballater,  35 miles
Day 6 – Ballater to Edzell,  43 miles 
Day 7 - Edzell to Stonehaven,  30 miles 

Alongside pandering to their midlife crisis’esque needs for (youthful?) adventure, Ian and Andy are taking this opportunity to help raise funds for St Anne’s Hospice in Manchester. St Anne’s is close to their hearts as Ian’s mum spent the last weeks of her life being wonderfully cared for by the amazing staff there, before passing away this Spring.

 http://www.sah.org.uk

St Anne’s Hospice cares for and helps around 3,000 patients, their families and carers every year who are affected by cancer and other life-limiting illnesses. They deliver care that is special and unique to each individual person.  Any sponsorship you kindly give will help fund the £16,000 per day it costs to provide their free-to-use services.

Now remember, the English coast-to-coast nearly did for us and that was about 20% shorter. We're also 4 years older - although clearly no wiser. This is going to hurt - a lot! - so for your gratification and delight, we will be posting frequent pictures of our mental and physical decline throughout the trip.

So, if you can,  please ensure we can't back out by helping us raise some cash for a fabulous cause which touches so many of our lives.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

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.