Sponsored bike ride from Madrid to London
Created by Bhaven
14th October 2023
This event has closed
Story
Hi all, 📣The Highlights (TLDR): As some of you know Daksha Mistry (mum) is planning, what will be, an incredible 3-4-1 Charity Ball on 2nd of December this year, and I would like to help her reach her targets and support these causes by doing a sponsored bike ride from Madrid to London. The entire journey will be around 1500km. I'll start on the 20th September 2023 and I'm aiming to complete this journey in less than 20 days. https://www.3-4-1charityball.co.uk/ 🎗The Cause(s) I would encourage readers to visit the Charity Ball website to read the full story of our family and the reason we are doing this. As a summary, I am focusing this fundraising effort on one of the three charities that will benefit from the 3-4-1 Charity Ball - Meningitis Now. I have a personal connection to this charity; my sister passed away from meningitis at the age of 11 months and this year marks the 35th anniversary of her death. Our family has worked with Meningitis Now (formerly The Meningitis Trust) ever since she passed and we have an Forever fund that I will be adding to with this event. Meningitis Now does amazing work in raising awareness, providing ongoing physical and financial support to people who have suffered from meningitis and they of course rely on donations to be able to continue. 📕The Story In September, the amazing 18 months that my partner and I have spent living in Madrid will come to an end as we say goodbye to all of our friends and this beautiful city and prepare for the next chapter in our adventure. Part of this will involve packing up and moving our stuff back to the UK. However it dawned on me - how was I going to safely get my beloved bike (Gonzalez), back to London? Will my crippling paranoia allow me to trust a baggage handler to carefully load and unload it into a plane? The answer was a resounding "No - I'll take it myself" (no offence to baggage handlers reading this, it's my issue, not yours). What started as a trust issue, turned into journey borne from pure stubbornness, which has now evolved into an opportunity to contribute something significant to a wonderful cause! 🌏The Route This trip will not only mark the end of our amazing time living in Spain, but will also mark the end of my time at Arup España as I join Arup London! Therefore I will start my journey at the office that has welcomed me into their family and made me feel at home, and it will end at the Arup offices in London. The exact stops along the way are TBD - it will depend on how my legs are feeling - and what the hill situation for the next day is looking like, but I plan on doing on average 100km per day as I travel north east through the Spanish countryside, across the Pyrenees in France, up to Caen. From there I'll take a ferry to England (this is cheating slightly, I know!) to Portsmouth, where I'll continue travelling north-east until I get to Central London. The entire journey will be around 1500km. I'll start on the 20th September 2023 I'm aiming to complete this journey in less than 20 days. 🙏🏽How can you help? Donations: I will be funding this journey by myself and so every penny raised through this page will go to the collective fund. I understand that times are tough at the moment, so I really appreciate any donation of any amount! Spread the word: Please share this message far and wide - the more awareness I can get the better! If anyone wants to join, I'd love the company! Come to the Ball!! For those of you who know my family and our past events, Daksha has held some spectacular charity events in the past - some of you may even remember the Charity Ball in 2008 where huge sums of money were raised for Meningitis Now and it was a damn good party! Knowing my mum, this will be no different! Tickets are on sale now so we'd love to see you there! https://www.3-4-1charityball.co.uk/ Advice: I'm pretty nervous so if you have you got any tips, particularly around nutrition/equipment, I'm all ears!! If you made it this far through the page, thank you so much for reading and being part of the journey 🙂 I'll try to drop regular updates as I go.Updates
Tracking the journey
18th September 2023The easiest way to follow my progress will be to go to Polarsteps and follow me:
https://www.polarsteps.com/BhavenMistry/8933589-cycling-madrid-to-london?s=82d278be-f787-442f-9085-51535f92b0ce
