THE COUNTESS OF WESSEX

GETS SOME EXTRA PEDAL POWER TO HELP A CAUSE CLOSE TO HER HEART

She is used to working in tandem with the causes she supports and wheely getting behind their campaigns. But for her latest charity challenge, the Countess of Wessex was well and truly out in front, even if she did find it “completely out of my comfort zone”.

Wearing cycling gear and a helmet, Sophie, 56, hopped on a bicycle made for two, pedalling alongside a group of sighted and visually impaired riders during a tandem trip around Bushy Park in London.

Designed to raise awareness of the #SeeMySkills employment campaign launched by the charity Vision Foundation, of which she is patron, the tandem ride was a first for the Countess – and she was grateful that the charity’s appeals manager Monica Smith had her back.

“If you’d been a bit worried, I’d probably have said: ‘Look, I can’t do this,’” Sophie told her. “You were the one that gave me confidence.”

Of course, the short bike ride was nowhere near as arduous as the seven-day trip the Countess undertook almost five years ago. Then she cycled 450 miles from the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh to Buckingham Palace for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Diamond Challenge.

“I do feel good,” she said, after raising more than £ 180,000 for the awards scheme. “It has been a lovely, lovely experience.”