My name is Ken Dunbar. I am married to Silvano and have two sons Jay and Rikki and a grandson Euan.

I was born in Fife, Scotland and went to Kirkcaldy High School during the 70's. For my sins, I'm a life long Raith Rovers fan, which means, generally speaking, I have suffered torture over the years with mere fleeting moments of joy.

Now I'm 48 years old and live in Morpeth Northumberland. My career has taken me from Kirkcaldy in Scotland to Brighton in Sussex, back to Scotland, then to Surrey/London, up to Dudley in the Black Country and finally to Castle Morpeth in Northumberland. I started my career in leisure and moved on to become a Director of a large Direct Service Organisation in Surrey, then on to the much bigger Dudley Borough Council and finally as CEO at Castle Morpeth.

In between I have dabbled in "consultancy" and have backpacked through South East Asia, including sometime in jungles in Thailand, Laos, Cambodian temples of Angkor, the length of the Mekong Delta and the southern half of Vietnam .

I've cycled extensively too. My cycle trips have taken me around parts of the UK coastline, including a few coast to coasts, the french coastline around Normandy and Brittany, Guangshou in Southern China, Troodos mountains in Cyprus and some other local routes in Northumberland, Scotland and Sussex.

My South American adventure is definitely a trip of a lifetime and will, I hope, raise money for two great organisations and prepare me for the next stage in my career