Friends to travel length of the UK but training hampered by cold weather

A MAN from Henley who is preparing to take on Land’s End to John o’ Groats on a penny-farthing has said preparation is challenging in the cold weather.

Matt Richardson, of Deanfield Avenue, will take on the 900-mile journey in April with his friend Bill Pollard, of Deanfield Road.

It is the second challenge the pair have taken on in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support after they raised more than £24,000 by cycling from Market Place in Henley to the Eiffel Tower in Paris in June last year. Their upcoming feat is four times the length of their previous challenge and is expected to take between two and three weeks.

The pair, who are both aged 59, chose to fundraise for Macmillan after Mr Richardson, a father of two, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2022. He said he wanted to give back to the charity, which supported him during treatment.

Mr Richardson said that if all goes to plan, he should be home for his 60th birthday at the end of May. To prepare they have been going on regular rides of around 20 to

Mr Richardson said: “It’s tricky at the moment as we can’t go out [in the ice] so it’s a bit limiting but we have a bit of time left and we have been riding regularly.

“It takes more out of you when you are riding in the cold, so we have been on relatively shorter rides. We need to be fit, obviously and the received wisdom is we have to do eight weeks of targeted preparation.”

To complement their machines, the men are planning to take on the challenge wearing various forms of Victorian clothing.

Mr Richardson said he still has to look after himself. “My health is not what it was,” he said. “I had my cancer treatment in 2023 and it definitely impacted my stamina. So that’s one of the possible problems. We will have to see how it goes.”

Mr Richardson said there was nobody else he would rather take on the challenge with than Mr Pollard, whom he first met as a student at York University.

“We have been friends since the mid Eighties,” he said. “And neither of us has a brother so we are kind of like brothers. We both have two sisters, actually.”

The pair will depart from Land’s End on April 25. To donate, visit justgiving.com/page/pennyLEJOG