Let me introduce you to Team Apeocalypse. We are a mother and son Team taking on an adventure of a lifetime in our (hopefully) trusty steed, Amelia the Almera, to raise money for Cornwall Hospice Care.

On Sunday September 25th 2022 we will be leaving the safety of our beloved Cornwall on a once in a lifetime road trip through Europe in 7 days. Our end destination? Porto in Portugal. The road trip will consist of challenges, trials and much mischief all in the name of raising as much money for our charities as possible. And just to make it even more of a challenge, we don't find out each day's routes until that morning. 

So what could make it even more difficult? Well how about having to find a car for no more than £500? Let me assure you finding a working car for that money (I use the term 'working' lightly) is not an easy task. 

I've never been abroad in my life and a few years ago I was too scared to drive 10 miles to work. Now for my first ever foreign trip I'm going to be driving (hopefully with the help of my Co-driver) approximately 2000 miles through at least 3 countries I've never even visited before.

Now you see why this is a challenge. Let's face it, just trying to spell our team name is a challenge in its own right. 

So why Team Apeocalypse? 

Well it's not as sinister as it sounds. The car has to be bought for no more than £500. For those who don't know £500 is also known as a monkey. That's actually a pure coincidence (and an afterthought) as it's actually based on a video game. Both my mum and I are slightly (very) addicted to a monkey based video game called Ape Escape where the monkeys have escaped and are causing chaos throughout the world. What better way to share that than to recreate it in real life. 

Why are we doing this? 

For over 10 years we have watched the banger rally leave and only dreamed of doing it. Finances would never allow and to be completely honest I was too scared to do it. I recently had a health scare and lost a friend unexpectedly which put things into perspective for me and I have done so much to overcome my mental health struggles and achieve this dream while I have the chance. I'm doing whatever it takes to make this happen as it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for us. 

I'm also doing it personally to face my fears. I struggle with my mental health and the thought of social gatherings, not being able to plan routes and being in an unfamiliar place absolutely terrifies me. After a health scare I want to do this to try and overcome my problems, start a new chapter in my life where I'm not scared to try new things and hopefully open up a lot more opportunities in the future. I'm doing this to change my life.

The charity

We are raising money for Cornwall Hospice care because they are a charity very close to our heart. In 2007 my grandad unfortunately passed away after a battle with cancer. Mount Edgcumbe Hospice took great care of him, gave him the support he needed and made sure he was happy right up to the end as well as helping us through that incredibly difficult time. For that we can never thank them enough but we hope to raise a lot of money for them by doing this. 

Stay tuned for further updates and if you want to follow us every step of the way please join our Facebook page or follow us on Instagram.

facebook.com/TeamApeBRC 

Instagram - @team_ape_brc

I hope you'll understand that this is a huge challenge for us (I've spelt the team name wrong 5 times already writing this haha) and we would really appreciate donations to the charity. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us so we want the charity to get as much as possible from this.

Thank you.