The Nile is an extraordinary river. The Lardies are completely ordinary middle-aged people. Inspired by the tragic loss of a friend to cancer, the ordinary will be taking on the extraordinary. The Lardies will be undertaking the cycle-ride of a lifetime, along the banks of the river Nile, in order to raise awareness and money for Macmillan Cancer Relief.

The trip will take place 13th-20th October 2003, and the participants will be travelling every inch of the way by cycle. The tour will be 420km long and spread over five days of cycling. That means the Lardies will be travelling an average of 84km (52.2 miles) a day, in boiling temperatures of up to 33 degrees Celsius.

The event will be taking place in memory of Paul Bithell, former Editor of the Banbury Guardian, and a member of the Lardies, who recently died after having battled bravely against brain cancer for three years. Paul was a fitness fanatic who did extensive work for Macmillan after he was diagnosed. Paul's friends, wife, children and the remaining Lardies, agreed that the trip would be a fitting tribute to his memory, and the Lardie philosophy.

The fact is the group were rubbish at cards and hated taking money off each other as it ruined a friendly evening and gradually the card school became an excuse to get together, eat curry, drink lager and have a laugh playing things like French cricket, Scalectrix and Subbuteo and any other games our kids had.

Three and a half years ago while training for a triathlon one of the Lardies Paul Bithell a newspaper editor had a brain haemorrhage. It was cancer and it was terminal. Paul was told he had 6 months to live. His fellow Lardies asked him whether he had any ambitions that he had not achieved. Paul said he had never been to Landsdown Road to watch the rugby, never been skiing and had never been to the coffee shops of Amsterdam.

So five grown men who should have known better took Paul to Dublin where we watched a glorious match....USA V Ireland! Courcheval where Paul skied slowly down a mountain, and Amsterdam...........where we.……well we can't remember much about that weekend if we are honest...........however all of Paul's ambitions were satisfied. Lardie Tours was born!