The long and winding road to raise vital cash

She cycled along narrow lanes and beside busy roads, through unspoiled rural countryside and into the heart of cities.

And most of the time she did it staring straight at the back of her husband's head.

It sounds enough to send the most determined cyclist and devoted wife right around the bend. But as the rear cyclist on a bicycle built for two, there's not much chance to take in the passing scenery when the person in front is urging you to pedal faster.

It had all seemed such a good idea after two bottles of wine two years ago, when Libby and cancer survivor husband Tim suddenly decided to embark on their epic challenge - cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats on a tandem in less than three weeks, covering around 70 miles every day, all to raise cash for a research charity.

But as the cycle challenge loomed, Libby - whose previous cycling experience before she met Tim involved a little light mountain biking as a child - started to realise just what it involved.

Libby was allowed only three changes of cycling gear, crammed into four panniers along with Tim's clothes and vital repair equipment - all attached to the sides of the couple's custom-built tandem.

Toiletries and grooming vitals were shoved aside for a supply of blister cream, homeopathic muscle massage oil and arnica cream for bruising in those most sensitive of saddle-sore places.

"I wasn't a cyclist at all," laughs Libby, 34. "I had a mountain bike as a kid but it was a means of transport, never for serious cycling. Whenever Tim and I went out on solo bikes, he was always disappearing into the distance."

Two years ago the couple hit on the idea of asking guests at their wedding to help them buy a tandem. But it wasn't until they sat down to read a book of British cycle routes that they hit on their fundraising scheme.

Libby admits: "Once we told everyone what we were thinking of doing, it became too difficult to back out.

"So we did a few training runs of 60 miles for a couple of days, but the reality check hit about a week before we left - suddenly the thought of doing 16 days of that in a row felt a bit much. Then a friend, who is a very keen cyclist, asked us which days were our rest days. Well, then we realised we didn't actually have any rest days at all."

Incredibly, the couple succeeded in travelling from one end of the country to the other - Tim steering up front, Libby faithfully pedalling and navigating from behind - without even exchanging a single cross word.

"I know people say a tandem bike is a marriage breaker, but that's definitely not the case for us," laughs Tim, 33, whose role up front meant he was in charge of steering, braking and avoiding potholes.

"Really, it's just the opposite. We're a very close couple any way. We do everything together and we're both really sporty."

But cycling tandem from Lands End to John O'Groats surely had its moments, didn't it? After all, who wouldn't be tempted to sit back at the rear, letting their partner do all the work?

That, insists Libby, might have been tempting, but she didn't let it happen. "People would point and shout out 'She's not pedalling!', but I honestly was.

"It was best for Tim to be at the front because he's a cyclist and he likes to be in control - imagine being on a bike and the person at the back keeps trying to steer." Arguing over the best road to take and who gets to have the first shower at the multiple bed-and-breakfast stops along the way was the last thing on their mind when both had to deal with the impact of 70 odd miles in the saddle.

"The first couple of days were the hardest, but eventually you get a bit numb to it," winces Libby.

The experience, in which the couple raised £2750 for the Lymphoma Research Trust, actually helped to bond them closer, despite one navigational hiccup, which diverted them several miles off course.

"It was the third day and we were already quite tired when we realised we'd got the mileage of the route a bit wrong, and then got slightly lost in the hills," says Libby. "So we did 89 miles when it should have been 75. I was navigating along these narrow country lanes, but there wasn't a signpost where there should have been," she insists, possibly echoing the cry of many front seat passengers this summer.

It's the type of map-reading blip that can spark matrimonial mayhem, but Libby insists the pair simply carried on pedalling until they got back on track.

After all, what's a 14-mile detour when you're trying to cycle the length of the nation? And at least her day job as a physiotherapist and his as a solicitor meant aches and pains were easily dealt with. If the worst really did come to the worst, Tim could offer up some helpful legal advice.

Now back home after their long journey - with their trusty tandem Harriet resting in the cellar of their Craigentinny home in Farrier Terrace - the couple haven't even got a blister or a muscle strain to show for their fundraising trip that Tim might never have survived to make.

He was just 18 years old when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease, a potentially fatal cancer of the lymphatic system.

Chemotherapy and steroids helped defeat the cancer, but left the sporty young man with another troublesome condition - a weakened hip that meant he could no longer run, play football or enjoy long walks.

"The upshot is that I don't have a right hip - it's dissolved away - and I have one leg shorter than the other.

"It means that any sport that involves running or weight-bearing is quite sore, so cycling was ideal, " explains Tim.

"We both play underwater hockey - Libby to a very high, national level - so we're both fit enough. I suppose, having been through the illness, I've come out with a positive attitude to life.

"So when we spoke about the trip, I didn't think there was any doubt we'd be able to do it."

Still, Libby admits that the day the couple headed over the English border and turned their tandem towards their Edinburgh home was a turning point in the journey.

"It was such a landmark. We knew then that we'd finish," she says. "We then had our shortest day, 45 miles to Edinburgh - and after so many nights in bed and breakfasts, staying over with friends and surviving in three changes of cycle clothes, it was really lovely to come home and sleep in our own bed."

So what's next? "Put it this way," laughs Libby, "the next holiday will definitely involve a beach!"

source;living.scotsman.com