What started out as a passing interest eventually became a reality when I decided to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats on my e-bike as I approach my 60th birthday. Having not been a cyclist until I bought the bike in 2022 I found how much I enjoyed being out on the bike – the sense of freedom, the peace and the exercise. This ride will take me 23 days in June 2024 and I will be cycling over 1000 miles with a group and will have back-up. I have never done anything like this before so it will be a big personal challenge for me. Training outside during the winter was often not possible so I devised a gym programme with the help of a personal trainer to see me through the winter. In January I started to take the opportunity to get out on my bike initially once a week, then twice a week slowly increasing my mileage. I have now reached 40 mile round trips and recently achieved cycling 40 miles for 3 days back-to-back (just to see what it’s like getting back on the saddle day after day!) The weeks are starting to fly past so pressure is on for more and more regular training.

An added incentive for me is to raise funds for Young Minds, a charity that is fighting for a world where no young person feels alone with their mental health and all young people get the mental health support they need, when they need it, no matter what. Seeing my own daughter struggle with loneliness and isolation is heartbreaking, made all the more worse for having suffered a traumatic head injury, at the age of 17, in 2021. She spent the best part of a year in hospital, initially in Intensive Care in a coma for 3 weeks and twice undergoing extensive brain surgery. Many agonising months followed with neuro rehab and slowly she started to come back to us, coming off all the machines, functioning independently and relearning all her motor and cognitive skills. Having just started at Sixth Form college shortly before her accident she suddenly found herself out of action for months. Life goes on and those she had started to make friends with slowly melted away. As her cognition improved so did her awareness of being left behind, missing out and being on her own. Today, having made a remarkable recovery, she is left with an Acquired Brain Injury. However, despite her struggles, her spirit and determination to have a full life are inspiring and she is now at university. She continues to cope with aloneness. I would like to be able to help young people find a way forward, to build their self-confidence, self-belief and ultimately peace within themselves. So I invite you to help me raise funds to empower young people to seek reassurance and advice to make positive choices for their mental health, to be able to find someone to turn to who “gets it” and find the support they need to stop an emerging mental health need becoming a crisis.