In September 2016 I am cycling from London to Amsterdam over 3 days in total.There'll be a team of about 20 of us cycling. It's time I stepped out of my comfort zone, took on a challenge before I hit 40 and tried to raise a large sum of money for my chosen charity rather than the odd small donations I seem to give usually through my son's schools.

I volunteer on Sundays at Ferne Animal Sanctuary, near Chard and being a huge animal lover it made sense for me to choose Ferne as my charity.  If you are unfamiliar with Ferne, they take in unloved, unwanted, abandoned and sick animals - mainly dogs, cats, pigs, horses, cows, chickens, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs and ferrets, to name a few. I mainly have the particularly hard job(!) of cuddling and playing with the cats and kittens so they become more sociable and used to humans and regularly taking the dogs out of their kennels for walks around the country lanes and cuddle and play with the puppies! Sadly I get to see some awful cruelty cases (however they fall on their paws once they arrive at Ferne) and all they want is to have a loving home.

You've probably realised by now I'm looking for sponsorship to egg me along on my challenge! I'm fully aware people are always after sponsorship money for one thing or another, so I totally understand if you're rolling your eyes and wanting to delete this, however on the other hand if you would like to make a contribution, no matter how small (or large), I would be thrilled! I'm often sceptical whether the money we donate ever gets to the intended charities and then put to good use but I've met with the fundraising organiser at Ferne who explained what the money will go towards and how the money from a Just Giving site is received.

I want to stress this is NOT a holiday. I don't mind pootling around on my bike, whizzing down Galmington hill or family bike rides but I've never cycled long distances before and certainly not in another country. I can just about pump up the tyres. I'm really looking forward to it and all the disciplined training that comes with it, (it's very different to half marathon training) plus I think I will need the year to become fitter and raise the funds!

So it just leaves me to type, if you would like to sponsor me - thank you very very much and a sneaky reminder that these animals have as much right to be on this planet as we do!

Rachel

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.