Firefighter cycles 870 miles in five days to help people with mental health issues

A Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service firefighter has raised more than £4,000 for charity by cycling the full length of the UK within five successive days.

Gareth Johns, who is based at Powey Lane Fire Station, rode the 870 miles from Land’s End in southern England to John O’Groats in northern Scotland in aid of Mind, the mental health charity.

He undertook the LEJOG challenge between Sunday 18 July and Thursday 23 July 2021 alongside his friend Mike Barrett, a former soldier.

Gareth, who lives in Ellesmere Port, said: “This was our second fundraising cycling challenge.

“Our first was the National Three Peaks Challenge, which saw us cycle between the highest mountains of England, Scotland and Wales in 47hrs 43mins.

“We always say that a charity challenge needs to be bigger and tougher than the last one, which is how we came to plan LEJOG.

“We wanted to do something that would make people react in a positive way, documenting and publicising our journey so that awareness and money was raised along the way.

“Mental health is so important to all of us, and we wanted to highlight this in the best way we knew how.

“Both Mike and I have lost multiple friends due to poor mental health, and that absolutely shouldn’t happen.

“This challenge was our way of trying to prevent it from happening to others by raising awareness and money.

“LEJOG was a true test of both our physical and mental robustness.

“We both went through some dark times during the 870-mile journey, but with each other’s help and support we battled through them and came out of them stronger.”

The pair could not have picked a worse time to take on the challenge – it was the hottest week of the year!

“The 30 degrees heatwave over the five days certainly added to the challenge,” Gareth said.

“Hydration was a huge factor, as was the risk of sunburn. Thankfully, we managed to stay on top of both and completed each day relatively unscathed.

“It was a great excuse for multiple ice-cream stops though.

“The challenge provided us with a great opportunity to eat whatever we wanted. We were using about 8,000 calories a day, so no food was off limits as we tried to give our bodies the required quantity of fuel.

“We both trained hard for the challenge, but I’m not sure you can ever truly be ready for a 12-and-a-half hour day of cycling, regardless of how much effort you put in beforehand or how much you like your bike.

“In addition, starting a bike ride as early as 4.30am on five consecutive days is just silly and not something I want to do again.

“However, it was all worthwhile. We received a lot of support and donations and can’t thank everyone enough for their generosity.

“In total we raised more than £4,000, which I know will be put to very good use by the mental health charity Mind.”

Pictured - Powey Lane firefighter Gareth Johns cycled the full length of the UK within five days.