Anyway as always the latest news is on my blog at http://mikesimagination.wordpress.com and you can read my reasons for supporting Shelterbox below....

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Hey, thanks for taking the time to come to this page.... I'll explain why I am supporting Shelterbox: Aside from being based locally to me in Cornwall they are an organisation close to my heart in that both the Pakistan Earthquake and Asian Tsunami of a few years ago directly impacted people I was fortunate enough to know as friends as a  result of my travels. In both of those events Shelterbox were among the very first on the scene and made a huge difference.

As for my journey, well I won't pretend that cycling 1000´s of km through the Andes represents any kind of hardship for me... I love riding my bike in wild places... so, no hardship but it will be hard..... you know, dirt roads, bad weather, lack of oxygen on roads that could go up to 5000m... and I imagine some days will be truly hideous, I usually have one or two on any bike journey when I'm cold, wet, exhausted, feeling sick, got a 100km headwind and have run out of energy food... all at the same time :-) But I'll still love every minute. Despite all that Shelterbox really does deserve your help, they do work that is out of all proportion to their profile and I'd like to help them along... so any donation you can make towards Shelterbox as I pedal my north along the Andes will be gratefully received :-) This is an entirely self-funded journey so every cent/penny/shekel/whatever donated goes to Shelterbox.

You can follow my progress on my blog at http://mikesimagination.wordpress.com/ if you haven't been there already... I start my journey with a flight from Heathrow on 11th January 09 and expect to return to the UK 28th May.

Donating through JustGiving is dead 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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Many thanks!

Mike