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I have planned to make this journey with an outlook to raise a substantial amount of money (£30.000) for two valuable charities:

One of my chosen charities is the Pasque Charity, Keech Cottage Children's Hospice. A bright and comfortable building which is located in Streatley, Beds near Luton and also comprises of a separate adult section.  The children’s hospice offers support to families who have to care for a child diagnosed with a life threatening condition.  The staff at Keech Cottage provide medical and emotional support throughout the child’s’ illness and after their death.  Care is provided free of charge and the staff focus on helping the child live their life to the full as far as possible. 

The other chosen charity is The Grove House who care for people living with cancer or other life-threatening illnesses.  Their service which is free of charge does not stop at just care, Grove House provides various support such as

advice, therapy and counselling for the patient’s family and friends as required.  Situated in St. Albans, Hertfordshire in the grounds of St. Albans City Hospital, the charity aim to reach people with terminal illnesses and provide them with top rate care and support.  The specialist team at Grove house adapt each patient’s individual medical needs to give them as much pain reduction, control, emotional or spiritual support as needed. 

As the services offered are free, to be able to continue their dedicated work, the registered independent charities rely

on financial community support to be able to continue their vital services in helping to care for their patients and their families.  There are several ways we can offer our help to support these hospices be it monetary or voluntary help.

Any donation you pledge however large or small, will be greatly appreciated.  Join me here daily at my website to watch the funds accumulate –

 United together, we can make something good happen to these people.

I have always participated in various challenges throughout my life, such as jumping from a plane for charity, been to the bottom of the ocean, climbed mountains, been to war and travelled solely on my own by train from Turkey to the UK at the tender age of 15. So, why not add to these now, with a long bike Journey these exceptionally good causes?

My journey to my destination will take approximately 5 days of travelling by riding on my bike through France, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and finally to Turkey.  The only countries that I will need to drive through

during daylight will be Romania & Bulgaria with which I plan to complete in a day from 5am to sunset.  The journey will be totally on land and I will be travelling alone with no support.

I plan to use a different route on my return journey back to the UK.  I will ride from Trabzon along black sea coast to Ankara to visit the Ataturk morial (founder of Modern Turkey) from Ankara  to Istanbul then Gallipoli to visit the victims of the 2nd world war to pay my respects and then ride on through Greece, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina where I will stop for a day, hoping to locate the friends that I  made during the Bosnian conflict while I was working there as a photo journalist. On several occasions took aid to the Bosnian children during the war where tens of thousands of Bosnians

had perished.  During my stay in Bosnia I will visit Mostar Zenitsa and Sreblenitsa where some 15,000 Bosnians were killed or were buried alive within a night whilst they were supposed to be in a safe haven protected by 75 Norwegian soldiers (15,000 people were to be supposedly protected by only 75 soldiers)
After my stay in Bosnia, I will take a ferry across the waters to Brindisi, in Italy and will continue on land, riding by the Adriatic coast all the way to Milan.  Once again, I will try to do this in a day in a bid to avoid a prolonged stay in Italy where on one occasion, my entire camera equipment was stolen from the car when I was on my way to Bosnia to photograph the war.

After Italy follows the dream come true - riding on the Swiss Alps.  I am indeed looking forward to this part.  Continuing onto France and through Germany, Luxemburg, Holland, Belgium, France once again, and finally back home. Hopefully, by this time I wouldn’t

have missed too many
Council Meetings and would have reached the targeted sum of money.

Note: I will have a small laptop with me throughout the journey hopefully picking up wireless signals at some point

and visit internet cafés’ where on a daily basis I will update my location so that all may be able to monitor my movements with pictures and videos.  During this time I will rely on your goodwill  and hope that you will be able to persuade all of your friends and relatives to support this good cause to exceed my target of £30.000.00.

Thank you to you all

M Salih Gaygusuz

The KRAZYTURK
(I was given this nick-name by my Diving Buddies)