Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

As someone who suffers from depression I want to help raise awareness for others suffering from this horrible illness. Even people you may think as happy,outgoing and "sporty" can suffer too.

I love participating in sport and have been inspired by the various sportsmen and women coming forward and talking openly about their problems. I too want to help remove the stigma of depression that you are weak and should be ashamed. I want to show that depression can affect anyone, at any point in their life. It's an illness that can be managed with the correct support and treatment.

Health in Mind are a mental health charity based in Edinburgh providing a range of services and support for people with mental health problems. They do a great job and I'm doing this challenge to help raise funds and awareness for them.

More information can be found on their website:

http://health-in-mind.org.uk/

As you may know I do a lot of cycling and running, but I've never taken on a big multi-day challenge like Cycling the North Coast 500 route. Starting in Inverness I will cycle west across the country towards Torridon, before turning north, up through Ullapool to Durness on the very north coast of Scotland. I shall then head east across the top through Tongue, Thurso and John o'Groats. For the final stretch I will turn south through Wick, Brora, Dornoch before finally finishing back in Inverness.

I'll be doing this on my bike carrying everything in panniers, staying in hostels on the route. It's going to be a tough 500 miles, with many a hill and I'm sure Scotland will throw all kinds of weather at me !!!!

More information on the North Coast 500 can be found at :

http://www.northcoast500.com/home/download-map/north-coast-500_map.aspx

I'll be keeping a blog of my adventure so you can see how it all goes!

Thanks for reading and for you support

Dean