In May this year, my mum lost her battle with cancer. Originally diagnosed with blood cancer in July 2021, she had been bravely undergoing chemo in the hope that it might stabilise the cancer and prevent it from deteriorating. Alas, on May 4 we got the news that we had been dreading; mum's cancer had deteriorated into Leukaemia and there was nothing further the medical team could do for her, except to make her end of life as pain free, dignified and pleasant as possible.

Herriot Hospice Homecare made it possible for us to get a hospital bed set up at home, and sent carers out three times a day to help look after her. Quite simply, those angels made it possible for us to give mum her last wish, which was to die peacefully at home, with dignity, surrounded by her family, music and love. Mum died on Friday, 13 May.

I was already signed up to do the Big Mountain Challenge, in aid of the Thames Hospice, which had been postponed for the two previous years due to COVID, but the organisers have kindly let me raise money for both the Thames Hospice and Herriot Hospice Homecare. Both Hospices do incredible work providing palliative care to people at the end of their lives. For both the patients and their families, the amazing support provides a little ray of light when the world can otherwise seem quite dark. Having experienced the need for such services first hand, I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude for the essential work that they do.

So, on Friday 16 September, I headed out to Annecy, the challenge: to climb the equivalent of the height of Mt Everest over the next 4 days, taking in some totally stuning scenery and iconic Tour de France climbs en route. 4 days, 400km and over 8400m of vertical ascent later it was job done just about!

Day 1: - Col de Leschaux (riding was curtailed due to delays caused by strikes at French air traffic control but we rode for as long as we could until we lost the light).

Day 2: Col de Plan Bois, Col de la Croix Fry and Col des Glieres (three big climbs, Glieres was particularly tough with a relentless gradient of 12% for 5km rising to 14% for the final 1.5km!)

Day 3: Col de L'Apperttaz and Col des Aravis (first climb was 16km with 42 hairpins... not that I was counting!)

Day 4: Mt Semnoz (climbing it from both sides just for good measure - actually it was to make up the altitude lost on Day 1! - spectacular views at the top and incredible descents!)

Utterly exhausetd but great cameraderie got me to the end. And it would not have been the same without the incredible support of the Mavic team, Helen and the team leaders (for Team Everest, it was Leo and Alex!). Also it was such a privilege to get to ride with pros from Le Col - Wahoo Racing Team: Emilie Moberg and Anna Christian who were great fun and so generous with their time!

Please give whatever you can and feel free to split donations between the two chosen charities by clicking on each of the team links. Thank you so much in advance for your generosity - however much, it will make a world of difference to families in their hour of need!