REAL RIDER

Joshua Moisey, seven, became the youngest cyclist to ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats, taking his mum, dad and brother, Reuben (10), along for the ride

Dad had cycled Land’s End to John O’Groats 20 years ago, and when Mum and Dad got married they cycled it for their honeymoon. We spend our summer holidays on cycling adventures. Two years ago, for example, we all rode 70 miles around the Isle of Wight. Our granny, Yvonne, died three years ago and we decided to do LEJOG to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society in her memory. To prepare for it I cycled the Hayes to Brighton ride with my local club Penge CC. We did some practice routes including a hilly 35 miles, plus circuits of our local park in Crystal Palace.

We started from Land’s End on 3 July, after travelling down from London the day before by train. It was just the four of us, with Mum, Dad and Reuben carrying our luggage in panniers. As we’re all musicians Dad had arranged concerts for us to help raise extra money during the trip. It was incredibly hot,

Riding our Islabikes through Glencoe was amazing. The mountains were so spectacular

especially at the beginning in Devon and Cornwall. We stopped off for concerts at Bristol St Stephen’s Church and Lancaster Priory. It made a change from being on the bikes for a day and gave us the chance to do some sightseeing. Riding our Islabikes through Glencoe was amazing. Even though it was raining that day, the mountains were so spectacular. That was our longest day, at 45 miles. It was also fun crossing the Kirkstone Pass in the Lake District, climbing up so high and then seeing the view down from the top. We enjoyed cycling up the hilly side of Loch Ness, on the day we cycled from Fort Augustus to Inverness. We finished around midday on 3 August, exactly one month after starting. Just the four of us were there, plus a few astonished tourists who kindly took photos of us. As soon as we set out back to Wick to catch the train home, it started pouring with rain for only the second time in the entire trip, and we ended our journey completely soaked!