Josh and his gran complete marathon cycle
ALTHOUGH there were a few bruises along the way, there were smiles all round last Wednesday when one Berwickshire High School pupil and his gran got off their bikes after completing a gruelling cycling challenge.
Josh Herbert and his gran Jan Booth set off from John O Groats at the end of July and 21 days later and some 875 miles on, they reached the most southern point of the UK, Lands End.
It was Jan, from Gordon, who first shocked her family by sharing her keenness to dust off her bike and tackle the trip and after giving it some thought, Josh decided to join her in the saddle.
Unfortunately Jan had a slight bump when her foot got caught in a pedal when she was going onto a curb which set the daring duo back two days but a stitched up Jan soldiered on and like Josh made it to Lands End in one piece.
Before he set off from John O Groats, Josh told 'The Berwickshire News' he was unsure of what to expect from the cycle but was looking forward to visiting, or at least passing through, places he'd never been to before.
But understandably, he ended up focussing his attention on the road rather than taking in his new surroundings.
He said: "It all went pretty well; we aimed for a certain amount of miles a day but we quickly realised that we could do more than we thought so tried to push on a bit.
"We weren't sure how the weather would affect us but as it turned out we only had three of four days of rainy weather. It was actually worse when the weather was really hot later on in the cycle as we were approaching Cornwall.
"The heat made it pretty hard going and meant we got tired a lot quicker. I thought I'd get a lot of chances to see some sights but to be honest, even though we passed a lot of interesting things, there wasn't really the time to stop and have a proper look."
Josh said his gran taking a tumble was a bit of a shock but after recuperating for two days she was keen to get her feet back in the pedals and plough on to Lands End.
Josh and Jan reached their final destination on August 18 which meant Josh had a few days to relax before going back to school for the start of a new year.
And he said the early starts and not being on his bike was taking some getting used to!
He continued: "It's strange being back home and not preparing to cycle every day.
"Unfortunately with having a paper round I'm actually getting up earlier than I was when we were doing the cycle.
"When we were on the road I was getting up at about 8 but now I'm back to 7- I slept in this morning because I didn't want to get up!
"I'd actually really like to do the cycle again next year I thoroughly enjoyed it."
Both Josh and Jan would like to thank everyone who sponsored them for the cycle, helping them to raise 600 for Duns Amateur Swimming Club.
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Weather for Duns
Thursday 17 May 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 5 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North east
