WHILST most people would be content to throw a party for their 70th birthday, a local man decided to take on a more ‘crazy’ challenge to mark the milestone – cycling the length of the UK in 12 days!
Melksham resident Peter Smith cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats last month, battling against the elements and rogue shopping trolleys to complete his challenge. Alongside him in their trusty Skoda was wife Jane, who drove the length of the country as support, providing him with food and refreshments and arranging accommodation for overnight stops along the way.
“I couldn’t have done this challenge without the support of my wife Jane,” said Peter, “it was just as much a challenge for her as it was for me!”
The couple’s efforts raised over £1,500 for the Royal United Hospital’s Forever Friends Appeal – a thank you from the couple to the hospital for the treatment and support Jane received when she was treated for breast cancer. Peter said, “I have nothing but high regard for how they treated her and the support they gave both of us. Jane is now fully recovered and has to go for annual checks – I can’t say loud enough how wonderful the breast care unit were – they were friendly, courteous and gave Jane the best treatment.”
About the inspiration behind the challenge, Peter explained, “We returned from Spain four and a half years ago and when visiting our grandchildren who live in Bristol, young James, who was about 3-years old at the time, was on a see-saw with his brother and they couldn’t get it to balance. I jumped up onto the middle of the see-saw and manipulated it with my weight to get some momentum going and James said, ‘I didn’t realise old guys could do that!’ And ever since then as I approached 70, I wanted to do something crazy to mark it!
“I thought I might do my last marathon or a walk, but I couldn’t do those things because of various things happening to my body. I took up cycling last year and came up with this idea as one last big stupid thing I could do!
“There were some lowlights during the challenge; we were in the north of Scotland when Storm Ali hit, which was pretty vigorous. I had to cut the leg short on that day as it was so dangerous – there were shopping trolleys coming down the road at speed!
“Because of the storm, on the last day I was left with 90 miles to cycle – which just about finished me off!
“One highlight came on the final day – there is a rise in the road just before you reach John O’Groats, so when you get to the top you can see John O’Groats ahead and it is all downhill from there for about half a mile. I thought to myself, ‘Christ! I made it’, and it was a great feeling free-wheeling down to the end.
“Now I look back I’m glad I did it, but now I want to do something else. This won’t be the last crazy thing that I do!”
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