On the 3rd June I will be leaving London to cycle to Marche, near Ancona, on the east coast of Italy – a journey of approximately 1,450 miles. I am anticipating completing this journey by the 23 June and my route will take me through France: past Reims, Dijon, Lyon, Aix-en-Provence and then round to southern coast of France, passing Cannes and Nice, and finally cycling into Italy past Genoa, Florence and finishing in Marche.

I have never done anything of this sort before, and have never personally raised a large sum for a single charity on my own – so the whole experience is brand new to me and is an extremely exciting challenge. The charity that I have chosen to support is Coming Home – a campaign, launched on 18 May 2011, to help the UK’s Servicemen and women whose lives have been changed so dramatically fighting for their country in Afghanistan and Iraq. The charity fixes up these brave young men and women so that they are capable of leading the rest of their lives.  

Coming Home was established under the aegis of the charity Haig Housing Trust to provide specially adapted accommodation for badly injured soldiers who are left seriously disabled from the conflicts. The charity has been given the support of David Cameron, Boris Johnson and former head of the British Army General the Lord Dannatt and the founder of Help for Heroes charity Bryn Parry, as well as many others. Since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan in 2001, 249 Servicemen have been very seriously injured and 260 seriously injured or wounded. There are a total of 168 amputees from Afghanistan – 14 are triple amputees, 66 double and the remainder have lost a single limb. Coming Home will provide them with somewhere appropriate and decent to live.

By supporting my bicycle ride for the Coming Home Campaign, your donations will help provide adapted accommodation for our injured Servicemen and women, and will be giving them a new start to life. So any donations of any size will be greatly appreciated