Since our school days, the two of us have teamed up to take on numerous sporting challenges to raise money for charitable causes. Completing the London Marathon in 2006 is undoubtedly the highlight so far.

But now we want to raise the stakes and push ourselves further beyond our comfort zone than ever before. And what better cause than WaterAid? Water-related diseases kill 4,000 children every day and 443 million school days are lost each year to water-related diseases around the world. If we re-directed 50% of what rich countries spend on bottled water every year, we could halve the proportion of people without access to safe water and sanitation by 2015.

This situation will persist in spite of world recession, so now more than ever, we are driven to act.

So, this summer, we are going to cycle from London to Africa – Morocco to be precise – through France and Spain aiming to raise £10,000 for WaterAid as we go.

To make things interesting, we’ll be riding our newly acquired tandem bike and setting ourselves a strict deadline of 4 weeks. That means 80 miles a day, 6 days a week, give or take the Pyrenees, carrying everything from a tent and camping gear to spare parts for the bike. It's a tough challenge, but that's what draws us!