My Story

Hello,

Over three weeks this February I will be taking part in an epic expedition, as part of a team aiming to be the first people to cross Saudi Arabia coast-to-coast using only our own power. Relying only on our feet and bicycles, we will start at the Red Sea coast and, after summiting the highest mountain in the region, Jabal Sawda, head east towards the Persian Gulf. It will be far from downhill all the way, as that part of the journey will take us through the vast desert known as “The Empty Quarter” made famous in the writings of Sir Wilfred Thesiger. In total the journey will involve 1,303 miles/2,100 km in blistering heat.

You can help me along the way by sponsoring the work of UK charity Pipal Tree in Nepal. This is a charity that is very close to my heart as back in 2010 I was a volunteer in Kathmandu working alongside the charity’s Founder, Philip Holmes. Your sponsorship will help the charity plant trees in Kathmandu valley using The Miyawaki Method that Pipal Tree has been pioneering in Nepal since 2021, to great success. In response to the climate crisis and loss of biodiversity, through this Method the charity is creating forests that grow ten times faster, are twenty times more biodiverse and thirty times denser than forests planted conventionally.

You can read about the project I will be supporting here. As a guide, it costs approximately £1 to plant a tree, this covering all the costs of fencing off the plantation site, preparing the ground and nurturing the saplings. But the results will be spectacular. The picture below, taken last October, shows saplings that were planted in July 2023 in Phase 1 of the project.

Can you please help us with the Phase 2 development? You can sponsor me in any major currency.

Thank you so much!

Alex