To my family, friends and acquaintances,

Well, after all the planning and training, the great adventure has finally come around. Climbing Everest has always been a dream and now its time to try and turn it into reality. I have Helen to get me to 18,000 feet but then its down to me.

I will be posting a daily email back to the UK which will be posted onto a blog. Probably won't have much on it until I get to base camp in mid-April but I will tell it like it is so expect a roller-coaster of emotions. Here is the link for those of you who are interested: 

http://dbeverest.blogspot.co.uk

There will also be regular news items and pictures on the Jagged Globe website:

http://www.jagged-globe.co.uk/news/

As you may know, Helen and I are raising money for Dementia Forward - a charity with which she is associated. The links to the charity and our donations site are:

http://www.dementiaforward.org.uk

http://www.everyclick.com/bradleys_on_everest

Thank you to those who have already made a donation. For others, any amount, however small (even just £1 would be great), strengthens our resolve !

Bye for now

David