Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

In April 2015, my Wife Jo and I were involved in motorway crash on the M4.  20 tonnes of lorry pushed us sideways down the motorway at 70mph. We were completely unharmed but very lucky.  Others aren't so lucky. Accidents and illness can strike at any time.

Severn Freewheelers is a group of advanced motorcyclists providing a free out-of-hours courier service for hospitals in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, North Wiltshire and Herefordshire.  They carry whole blood, pathology samples, patient scans / x-rays, human milk - in fact any medical essentials between hospitals in the area. Their hours are from 7pm in the evening to 7am the following day, and 24 hours at weekends and public holidays.

To keep them going they need 64, 000 pounds each year, but if they aren't around then the NHS will have to use taxi's and you can imagine how much that would cost.

So in order to help them I am cycling 300 miles, starting in Manali at 6000ft and ending up at the highest motorable pass in the World at 17,000ft.  Altitude sickness is just one problem, temperatures vary anywhere from 30 degrees in the day to -15 at night, the weather can change at any moment and I'll be likely starting off in monsoon weather before entering valleys where it never rains at all due to the size of the mountains.  To get to Manali will take a 2 day bus ride. By day two of cycling I hope to have got past Rotang La which translates as 'Pile of corpses pass'. After a day's cycling its camping in a tent and then back on the road for 8 days straight before we get to Leh.  From Leh we then head to the high point for a bit of extra acclimatisation before hitting Kardung La.  I don't regard myself as a proper cyclist, the distances would be hard for me on the flat never mind uphill and in thin air, but this is a challenge I'm really looking forward to. To make it a bit harder I'm taking my entry-level Halford road bike, but then if I did own a carbon bike I doubt it would survive.  There won't be any freewheelers to help me out, there are no emergency services, which makes you appreciate what our country can offer and the need to support groups that help the NHS reduce their overheads. 

I'm in a team of 4, with the support of a small crew to help with the tents etc. I'm not sure what comms their might be up their but I will try to update this page.

Wish me luck, I'm going to need it. :-)

Stu

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