Cambridge Psychologist Rides from Paris to Nice
James Kiff, a Speciailst Clinical Psychologist from the East of England Cleft Service, has planned an ambitious cycle ride from Paris to Nice in France to raise money for CLAPA.
James has worked closely with the Cambridge Branch over the years, and decided to challenge himself to help support the local and national network of support and the benefit it brings to families and to the cleft team.
He says: “Supporting children and their families through the cleft care pathway and beyond to achieve their full potential is significantly aided by the work of local and national CLAPA networks. Financial support for regional events are highly valued contributions to the regional network and individual families alike, in addition to the assistance they provide to our cleft service through Welcome Packs for families with a newborn baby.”
The Paris to Nice cycle ride was an ideal fit, as in 2010 James and others raised over £1,000 by cycling from Cambridge to Paris, and they loved the adventure so much that they decided to carry on south where at least the weather is a little better! It’s taken a few years to put together, but James is looking forward to the challenge, and even says that he hopes to join the ranks of other dedicated CLAPA cyclists like Tom Berry who cycled to the top of Mont Ventoux in 2009 and appeared on the front cover of CLAPA News. James thinks he may have started a trend!
Joining James will be Steve Burbrage, a friend who will be raising money for the charity Red2Green.
“The planned route is to wind our way from Paris to Lyon following the course of the river Seine. We are thinking of this as a warm-up to the main event!”
“From Lyon we will begin the climb over the Alps by heading from Lyon to Grenoble. The following day we need to cover 190km through Vercors National Park. The scenery will be amazing but that is a long time to spend on a saddle! The following day we venture up Mont Ventoux – a 1500m climb over 21km of winding roads to reach the summit at 1912m – the top of our adventure. When you live in East Anglia, the idea of cycling for 2-3 hours up hill is not a daily event!”
“From the ‘Top’ we travel another 50km (downhill) before resting our legs for the final day: 150km up, over and round a few ‘minor’ obstacles before reaching Nice and collapsing on the beach!”
The ride will take place between 20-26th May 2013, just after our annual Awareness Week. If you want to donate, visit James’ fundraising page on Virgin Money Giving here.
From all of us at CLAPA we wish James and Steve a wonderful trip, perfect weather and some spectacular views from the mountains!
