Wick was just one port of call on cyclist's tour of 168 lifeboat stations

A cyclist who passed through Wick last month as part of a tour of UK lifeboat stations has reached his final destination at Poole in Dorset – the point from where he started.

Harry Lidgley (23) was undertaking a solo expedition called The Great British Lifeboat Cycle (GBLC) and raising money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) as he travelled around the British coastline.

Harry sent a message to the paper which read: "I’m just getting in touch to let you know that I have successfully completed my expedition, cycling around the UK mainland coastline and seeing the 168 RNLI stations en route. Thank you very much for covering my expedition when I passed through Wick."

Harry met up with sponsor Professor Iain Baikie and his son Joni along with lifeboat mechanic Johnny Grant when he visited the town on May 22. The young man, who features in the Guinness Book of Records, cycled to Wick harbour's lifeboat station as part of the 7000km journey.

"I started at RNLI HQ in Poole on May 1, and returned to Poole on the June 3 after 34 days cycling, averaging 192km (120 miles) per day. The fundraiser has reached a little over £6000, and the JustGiving page is still live so hopefully donations will continue to trickle in for a little while."

Harry says that both targets – time (42 days) and fundraising (£5000) – have been "comfortably beaten" making the expedition a great success.

"I got everything out of the challenge that I had been hoping to: immense satisfaction at completing my circumnavigation, the chance to cycle through some spectacular regions around our coastline, and the opportunity to meet many RNLI crew members. Everyone I met was really enthusiastic about my challenge, which was always a great morale boost."

He admitted it wasn’t all plain sailing, however, and endured a mix of just about every type of weather condition, including hail showers and cold nights in the south west, a few washout rainy days in Wales, some very tough headwinds in Scotland, and scorching heat back on the English south coast as he neared the finish.

"On days like these I just had to grit my teeth and do the best I could – but these are the really valuable days that build your capacity to endure and your mental resilience – all good training for future events."

Harry's JustGiving fundraising page currently stands at £6115 raised for the RNLI and is still open for this wishing to contribute. It can be found at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gblifeboatcycle

Related article:

Guinness record holder cycles into Wick as part of bid to visit 168 UK lifeboat stations

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