A man from Sudbury is set to embark on a daring charity solo flight from London to Cape Town in South Africa – in a plane he helped build himself.

East Anglian Daily Times: The route Mr Abrey will take on his daring solo flight to Cape Town Picture: CHARLOTTE WHITEThe route Mr Abrey will take on his daring solo flight to Cape Town Picture: CHARLOTTE WHITE (Image: Archant)

Giles Abrey will take to the skies on Sunday November 3 to raise money for The Institute of Cancer Research, GeeWizz charity and Farm Africa.

He will be taking on the epic journey almost 100 years after the first flight to Cape Town was completed.

On his daredevil flight, Mr Abrey, third generation farmer, will visit 13 countries, flying 7,200 miles during his momentous five-week challenge.

Mr Abrey said he was fully aware of the dangers involved, but had spent months planning his adventure.

He said: "As excited as I am, I also have to be realistic about the unknown weather en route which is clearly going to play an important part within this challenge adventure.

"I have tried to prepare in finite detail but I am at the mercy of the ever-changing weather.

"One example of this is I must land in Ethiopia in a mountainous range with a landing strip at 7,625 feet whereas the highest I have ever flown to date has been 4,500 feet.

"As a solo pilot, I will be pushing my comfort zone in every level.

"The furthest I have ever flown previously is Barcelona, this challenge I am about to undertake is 10 times longer than I've ever done before, crossing over a thousand miles of water."

Mr Abrey said he had been thinking about the challenge since 2007 when he first imported a G-Gast aircraft kit from the US with colleague Stephen Tortice.

Spending around four years putting it together with a team of six, he took it out on its maiden flight in 2011.

Mr Abrey said fuel could become an issue on the long flight to Cape Town.

He said: "If I have head winds or am being diverted, I am going to be running close on fuel.

"I did have a concern that if my GPS turns off and I am down to paper maps navigating though parts of Africa how competent am I going to be at that.

"Getting lost is obviously a worry, too."

He added: "I will be glad when it starts, as the amount of preparation has been mental, so I want to get going with it."

For more information on Mr Abrey's charity adventure and to donate to the cause, visit www.adventures4charity.com