A BEWDLEY woman will be jetting off to New Zealand to cycle the length of the country in aid of a cancer charity close to her heart.

Twenty-five-year-old Emma Evans will get on her bike to cycle more than 1,800 miles next month. (January) She is hoping to raise £2,000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, as her boyfriend Giles lost his mother Sally to the disease two years ago.

Her gruelling journey will begin on January 8 at Cape Reinga - the northernmost point of New Zealand - and will finish about 35 days later at Bluff, the southernmost point of the country.

Miss Evans explained: “Cancer is something that has touched my family and friends a great deal in the past few years, as it has many and I feel that Breakthrough Breast Cancer is doing tremendous work by funding research and raising awareness.”

She added: “This is a solo, unsupported challenge, so I will carry everything I need for the duration of the trip and will be on my own for the whole time. Each day, I will cycle between 40 and 110 miles.

“I’m looking forward to it. I’m a bit nervous and apprehensive but the training is going well. Also, cycling all those miles a day is pretty daunting.”

From Cape Reinga, Miss Evans will cycle along the eastern coast of Northland to Auckland, then follow the east coast for a short distance before crossing the North Island diagonally and reaching Wellington about eight to 10 days later.

From Wellington, she will cross to Picton by ferry, travel along the east coast of South Island to Kaikoura and then Christchurch. From there she will cycle west across Arthur's Pass in the Southern Alps.

“I anticipate this to be the most physically demanding part of the challenge because of the gradient and the distance between stopping points,” she said.

After that section, Emma will cycle along the west coast past Fox Glacier and Mount Cook, before heading to Wanaka and then Queenstown.

“This is the final push to Invercargill and onto Bluff, where my challenge will be complete,” she added.

People can sponsor Miss Evans at justgiving.com/nz-cycle-challenge-emma-evans. They can also follow her journey on her blog at emmaevans.blogspot.com/.