As I'll shortly be setting up my own blog/news site for this sort of thing this is somewhat temporary, but I need somewhere to write rather than forgetting what I plan to put down.

A few people are probably already aware that in September I'm planning to carry out a sponsored cycle ride from De Panne to Sluis and back again, with a total distance of 100 miles (the most direct route is a little short, but we'll be going North of Bruges on the way out and South on the way back to bring it up). Since I've so far only been cycling for a month and a bit this may be a little ambitious, but the idea of fundraising is to do something challenging. Trying to get myself sponsored for an eight mile journal would be a little harder - and it's not easy to get sponsorship for the full distance as it is.

Luckily I have plenty of time left before I actually leave, which'll hopefully let me beg, cajole, guilt and in other ways persuade people to give the charity money. The charity in question is the Alzheimer's Research Trust, which received a little publicity some time ago as being patronized by Terry Pratchett. Of course publicity does not last long and research into dementia is always underfunded as it is.

So a little bit about why I'm doing this. My grandfather was an aeronautical engineer, and contributed a lot to some well known plane designs. Many, many stories were told about this, and we were often taken along to air shows in order to see the planes he worked on (of which my favourite was always the harrier). Some time ago he died, but it is the time leading up to that which is hard for me to talk about.

In the runup to his death my grandfather began suffering from dementia. I rarely saw him at this point, but when I did I was lucky in that I saw his lucid moments. What was harder was seeing the effect that this had on the rest of my family, particularly my parents and grandmother. The strain that the illness put on them was frightening, and I worried about their health as much as anything else. This is not a time I particularly want to go into but anyone who has experienced this will know for themselves.

Research into dementia is not a popular cause. It does not make headline news and is not even a popular topic of discussion, but this research can make a difference not just to those suffering from dementia but everyone around them as well.

So with this in mind I decided to try and raise some money to help. Anything I can hand to the trust will help them fund this research. I am meeting all costs of the trip, and will also be donating what I can, and would ask anyone else who can afford a few pounds to consider sponsoring me at my JustGiving site.