From the wilds of Ireland’s west coast to the spectacular Cairngorms of the Scottish Highlands, marketing executive Mike Last certainly made 2024 a year of travel to remember.
The 61-year-old cycled an amazing 1,550 miles from the top to toe of both the United Kingdom and of Ireland in a matter of weeks – and succeeded in raising close to £1,600 to support for Self Help Africa, into the bargain!
Incredibly, Mike took up cycling as a hobby just four years ago, but he says that planning his amazing cycling adventure across Ireland and the UK had been underway for over a year ago.
“I wanted to set myself a challenge for my 61st year and reasoned that a trip like this probably wasn’t going to be something I’d take on when a was 71,” he says. “I’ve always played sport and kept fit, but nonetheless I needed to train consistently and build up both distance and hills closer to the event. Without this approach, I’m not sure I’d have had either the stamina or the belief to complete it.”
The marathon trip took him a total of 16 days at an average distance of between 16-17 miles per hour, and amongst the highlights were the wilds of Connemara, Donegal and the Gap of Dunloe in Ireland, as well as the trip through the Cairngorms National Park and The Lecht region of the Scottish Highlands.
A dad of two who works with an Africa-based telecommunications infrastructure company, Mike says that he chose to support Self Help Africa because he wanted to support the work of an African focussed organisation, and he also loved the organisation’s ethos of empowering and enabling rural communities.
You can still contribute to Mike’s fundraising efforts, and read more about his trip at:
