A bike ride with a literary twist raising money to enable around 8,000 books to be sent to libraries across sub-Saharan Africa by Book Aid International. 30 intrepid riders completed the 52mile journey from the Book Aid HQ in Camberwell, London through to Rudyard Kipling’s house Batemans, near Burwash in E Sussex. On the way they passed places associated with authors such as HG Wells, Jane Austen, Edith Nesbitt, and enjoyed a feed station stop at Downe House where Charles Darwin wrote his Origin of Species.

The four-seasons in one day weather did not dampen the spirits of the riders as they passed through some beautiful countryside and villages and they were rewarded for their perseverance with a lovely barbecue buffet in the sun at the finish.