The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Doctor’s ride raises £6,500
AN INTREPID doctor can look forward to putting his feet up after completing a 20,000-mile motorbike trip across South America for charity.
It took Dr Chris “Tigger” Targett 84 days to travel solo from Brazil to Argentina via 13 different countries during which he cheated death, broke two ribs, was robbed three times and fell sick after being bitten by ants.
But the 34-year-old, who raised £6,500 for air ambulance charity Magpas by doing the trip, also saw some of the world’s most spectacular scenery including plunging waterfalls and breathtaking mountains.
Speaking from his home in Sawtry, Dr Targett said: “It was an incredible journey and one which I’ll never forget.
“I saw some incredible sights and the friendliness of people in Brazil, Columbia and Venezuela amazed me.
“But I also drove along some of the worst roads I’ve ever seen and at one point was knocked off my bike by a Bolivian taxi driver on a route known as the “road of death”.
“It’s called that because it overlooks a 400-foot cliff and I ended up on the floor with my head looking over this 400-foot drop.
“I also fell off my bike and broke two ribs and got bitten by ants while I slept in my tent making me vomit.
“I got lost several times and was robbed on three occasions. But overall the good points certainly outweighed the bad.”
Dr Targett’s adventure got off to a dream start. As he prepared to board his flight at Heathrow back in January he proposed to his partner Samantha Lyon (32) and she accepted.
He decided to take on the challenge to help Magpas after the charity came to the rescue of Miss Lyon when she was a young girl.
He said: “Sam was involved in a car crash and was rescued by Mag- pas, but she was so young she can’t actually remember.
“Magpas saved her life and I wanted to give something back to them. One of my dreams is to work as a doctor for Magpas. These two reasons inspired me to do something to help. I’ve always wanted to have an adventure like this.
“Magpas is a really worthy cause that relies on public funding to carry out their jobs and when you consider that they are regularly saving lives it’s definitely a charity worth reporting.
“The trip took a lot of planning and I had to leave my job as an A&E doctor to go. But it was all worth it.
“I’m not sure whether I’ll ever attempt anything like it again because it was so draining, both physically and mentally. There were points when I really did think I wouldn’t make it and giving up would have seemed like the logical thing but I’m proud that I completed it.
“I now have some incredible memories of scenery, people and cultures that are very different from our own.”