Last year I lost my old mate and long time cycling companion Tom Pailor to Leukaemia. Apart from being really unfair to Tom and his family, this horrible disease robbed me of a brilliant cycling companion whose endless supply of stories and jokes kept me laughing over the long difficult stretches.

Rene, Stewart and Tom at the end of the London to Paris 2008

For fun, and to show that I’m still not past it, I’ve decided to retrace a memorable coast to coast run that we did in 2005.

Applied IT have generously agreed to donate a pound to Macmillan Cancer Research for every mile that I cycle, but they have insisted that instead of starting from Whitehaven and ending in Newcastle I have to start and finish from Hitchin instead.  

Brief details of the route here

This of course makes it a very very long way and as I’ve only got 4 days I’ve decided to cheat a bit and use the train to get up and down the country.

I’m starting on 9/9/2010 and you can follow the trip on Twitter and LinkedIn if you want to keep me company

If you want to donate by visiting Stewart’s JustGiving Page or clicking on the Donate Button below then I’d be really grateful.

See some of the generous businesses that have sponsored Stewart already

Stewart Peart, August 2010