After attempting this last year, but breaking my wrist, I'm returning to the continent to finish the unfinished business of riding Lisbon to Manchester, via the most southernly point of Spain.

Starting May 24th, I’m riding my bicycle over 2000 miles in about 16 days (I'm trying to average around 130 miles a day). I’ll be riding south through Portugal, moving into southern Spain, before heading north through Spain, along the west coast of France, and then up through the UK back to Manchester. As well as covering all of those miles, I’ll ride up hills equivalent to riding up Everest nearly 3 times – almost 80,000 feet of climbing and I'll be doing all of this riding alone and without support.

I'm doing this for the same reasons as last year, with both charities needing money now more than ever.

My Mum passed away in 2017, receiving support from St Ann’s Hospice through their Hospice at Home service. She was taken before the need for this service became intense, but it helped, and we were extremely grateful as a family for the service and the knowledge that help was at hand. SAH also offered counselling services and I was really fortunate to get supported through the next 6 months, the darkest time I’ve been through, by a wonderful lady: Hazel Wilcock. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that Hazel changed my life. Whilst supporting me through grief and depression, Hazel helped me in many ways and her help was fundamental in me being able to make certain changes in my life: I’m halfway through a degree at university and I am certain that would not have happened without Hazel. After trying to contact Hazel in 2021, I was devastated to learn that she had passed away earlier that year in a horrific gas explosion at her home in Bury. This pushed me to want to do something special in tribute. As one of the largest hospices outside of London, supporting people across Greater Manchester, St Ann’s needs to raise £20,000 a day to cover the running costs across its three sites and their work supporting people out in the community too. In addition to the running costs, they are trying to raise £2 million to build a new building at the Heald Green site, replacing the 150 year old building that is starting to affect the service they provide.

I’ve also wanted to do something in memory of my friend Jamie for some time and to support the great work I see the Jamie Horrocks Trust do in the community. Jamie tragically took his own life 10 years ago and the trust was established to try and improve mental health networks. I think it ties in really well with the help I received from SAH, where, from what I see, JHT want to normalise conversations around mental health and create environments that allow such conversations, whilst creating structures that help battle mental health, and help people identify risks. I was lucky in that I’m a talker who is very open, who happened to have access to a counsellor at a key time. More people should have support when they need it and in whatever form that may take. The Trust already do great work locally in Irlam and they are working towards expanding that work into Salford to help more people and to try and stop other families losing loved ones to mental health issues and suicide.

I hope this ride can be a fitting tribute to my Mum, Hazel, and Jamie; and money can be raised to support these two great charities and they work they do.

The money raised is to be split 50/50 between the two charities.