The Challenge: - 

On 8 September, we departed from the Bell at Ticehurst  to cycle from the UK to Kassiopi Harbour in Corfu - a trip of 1,900 km through six countries with a number of notable obstacles in the way, not least the Alps! We will be cycling for 20 days, which is 16 days more than our longest ride to date! None of us has attempted anything like this; four of us are doing the whole trip, but those who are keeping us company for parts of the trip will also be covering distances they have never done before. All of us are way out of our comfort zones; most of us are too old, not (yet!) fit enough and very frightened! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/cycle2corfu_ https://www.facebook.com/cycle2corfu

The aim of this ambitious ride is to raise funds for Alzheimer's Research UK. The great news is that we have reached our primary target of £150,000, enabling us to fund a state-of-the-art brain scanner which will be pivotal for the pioneering research into Alzheimer’s taking place at Cambridge University. Without equipment like this, we cannot conduct the research needed to make real breakthroughs for people living with dementia. Thank you so much to those who have supported us so far.

However, we are not done yet! We would love to raise more for Alzheimer’s Research UK, supporting the charity’s world class research taking place at leading institutions, which is so underfunded.  Any generous donations that take us beyond our scanner target will be invested in crucial equipment and innovative projects which will help ARUK’s scientists to push for the dementia breakthroughs we are all desperate to see.   

The team is Julian Brown, Richard Meddings, Andrew Ross and Julian van Kan, who are doing the whole trip. Our much-needed companions are Georgie Attwood, Adrian Baker, Sophie Beattie, Ben Clarke, Chis Phillips, Dominic Collier, Robert Graham- Campbell, Richard Harries, Tristram Gethin, Tom Lindsay, David Poole and Giles Ross.

Thanks to some very generous financial support from Schroders and because we are covering all our personal costs of the trip, every penny/cent you donate for this ride will go straight to Alzheimer's Research UK. Thanks also to Wildside Cycles for providing our spare parts and nutrition and to Bikecation for organising the trip.

We all have different reasons for doing this trip, but they mostly centre around mid-life crisis (polite because many of us are either side of 60 years old!), a desire to get fit before it is too late and to take on a REAL challenge. We also hope that by doing something this tough, we can make a difference by raising a significant sum for a great charity. Many of the riders have first-hand experience of Alzheimer’s and know it is one of the most significant medical problems of our time. It is debilitating for the sufferer and even more so for the families who have to cope with the mental decline of a loved one. In spite of this, research into a condition about which we still understand little is very underfunded. 

 The Charity: - Alzheimer’s Research UK is the UK’s leading dementia research charity dedicated to diagnosis, prevention, treatment and cure. Backed by passionate scientists and supporters, they are challenging the way people think about dementia, bringing together the people and organisations who can speed up progress and invest in cutting-edge research. They believe that medical research can, and will, deliver life-changing preventions, treatments and one day, a cure for dementia.