Surrey man and his son halfway through bike ride to Italy
Will and George Spencer are 11 days into their 23 day bike ride from Hampshire to Venice, to raise money for a food delivery scheme
A Surrey man and his son are halfway through a 23-day bike ride from Hampshire to Venice.
Will Spencer, and his son George are raising money for Lunch Bags for Kids, a food delivery scheme that recently stopped receiving public funding.
At day 11 we spoke to them when they were having a day off in Wolfach, near Strasbourg on the border between Germany and France.
"All flat out for 10 days now, camping every night which has been interesting, lots of very different campsites and lots of very different people, very very friendly people, absolutely brilliant."
However it hasn't all been smooth sailing through Europe for them as they encountered two minor setbacks.
Firstly in Luxembourg, George had his lights and water bottle stolen, before later on his bike broke entirely.
George's bike's gear cabled snapped entirely. But in an incredibly fortunate circumstances, they broke down only three miles away from a repair shop which got them back on the road.
George ran us through what the plan was for the rest of the trip:
"So we've got to go to Lake Constance, which is on the border between Switzerland, France and Germany, we then cycle into Austria to Innsbruck.
We then cycle through the Brenner Pass, followed by the Sella Pass. That will be a real challenge, 1,800 metres incline in one day, something to look forward to.
Through the mountains a bit more, real close to Bolzano, where there is an easy ride into Venice"
Will told us about how great it was to have his son alongside him for the journey.
"Just brilliant. George is going to be 17 in a couple weeks time, I'm 63, but it's never too late to grow. You obviously have your arguments, like anyone would, but just getting over them and getting to know each other more and more, which is great."
Finally they told us about what the plans were at the finish line, even though they were somewhat vague
"Well that's some planning we need to do. I mean there's certainly some historical things we need to look at. It's about the journey not the destination, that's my motto."