Between 9 and 18 June, John Partington and I are going to cycle the length of the UK from it's most south-westerly point at Land's end to its most north-easterly point at John 'O' Groats. Just under 1000 miles (our route is 967 assuming we take no detours) in 10 days. Mostly we're doing this for fun but just to emphasise - thats 100miles followed by 100miles followed succesively by 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, miles. The route takes us from Land's end to Bude, then to Street, Hereford and Warrington (pity about that). From Warrington its through the lakes, over the Kirkstone pass to Patterdale, then through the borders to Innerleithen; Innerleithen to Dunkeld, Dunkeld to Inverness, Inverness to Wick, Wick to John O Groats and we catch the train back from Thurso (by which time we will probably be unable to sit).

While we are doing this for fun, it is also a wonderful opportunity to support something I believe in, which is where you and Care for the Family come in.

Care for the Family is not the first charity to pop into your head but before you go thinking this is to fund my own (Small!) family let me explain why Ive chosen them. For each of us, our very selves are intricately shaped by the families we are part of; the famililial imprint left on us is incredibly sigificant in defining who we are. As such family is arguably the significant unit of society but in the 21st century it seems to be taking an awful knock. In our modern society it sounds terribly dated to promote the family but these relationships are at the core of society and if they break down we lose our strongest models of how to manage relationships.

Care for the Family are a UK organisation who support families (however you define that) in practical ways. They run parenting courses, marriage courses, single parent breaks, grief counselling, divorce recovery, special needs support networks for parents, finance training etc. It isn't a big organisation but, by making people and materials available it has a long reach and it's all centred on building strong family relationships.

I have been devastated by: a friend who abandoned their young children, by friends whose marriages have failed although I looked on them with great hope (and in some cases my friends have almost felt renewed afterwards), by friends whose relationship with a parent or sibling has been so badly damaged that they have not talked for years, by a friend who commited suicide apparently because he felt he never reached the expectations placed on him. We all have stories like this, and I suspect we all feel helpless in the face of them. Care for the Family offers a voice into these situations, perhaps making us less helpless.

I was asked today to sponsor someone (adult) for doing a 26 mile ride.  I gave him £10.00. On a per mile basis that equates to £370.00 for a 967mile ride. OK so I don't expect you to give me £370.00 (although it would be nice) but why don't you sponsor me £1.00 a mile? (p.s. most people lose their way along this route...)

I don't think anyone has ever done something like this for Care for the Family and it would be fantastic if they got a real surprise from it. 

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