A FORMER Pangbourne College and university graduate is preparing to cycle from Cape Town to Cairo to raise money for charity.

Paddy Cunliffe, from Maidenhead, is currently preparing for his travels in Perth, Western Australia where he is working in a gold mine and will start his African challenge later this month.

From Cape Town in South Africa, through southern and eastern African countries, he will cross the Sahara desert in Sudan before cycling beside the Nile to reach the Mediterranean coast.

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Paddy hopes to raise £10,000 for the charity, Indigo Volunteers – a British charity that connects volunteers with humanitarian projects around the world.

The 26 year old has been inspired by latter day explorers, such as Sir Ernest Shackleton and, more recently, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Worsley, a family friend, who died in the Antarctic in 2016 trying to cross the ice continent, solo and unaided.

Back in September 2017, Paddy worked and travelled his way through Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand and Vanuatu in the South Pacific.

Often moving on routes less well travelled he explained he has “had experiences that have humbled me, scared me, and forced me to grow and adapt".

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From acting as an ‘extra’ in an Indian Bollywood movie, to volunteering in an earthquake affected region of Nepal, teaching English in Vietnam and playing music for prisoners Vanuatu, Paddy has truly entered the spirit of adventuring.

He was working in a school just two blocks away from the Mosque in Christ’s Church, NZ that was attacked by a terrorist in March 2019.

Following his African adventure, Paddy will return home to Maidenhead in September 2020 to start a Master's Degree course at the University of Reading.

You can follow his travels on Instagram @paddy.yddap or on Facebook @Paddy Cunliffe.