Bad break fails to halt Philip Charlesworth's fundraising cycle ride

Philip Charlesworth was only four days into a month-long bike ride around Europe when he fell off his cycle, landing on his side and arm.

Despite being in agonising pain, Philip soldiered on and it was 20 miles later when he stopped at a passing house to ask for a glass of water when, by chance, the door was opened by a doctor.

Philip was advised to go to hospital where an X-ray revealed he had broken three bones in his hand and wrist.

But despite being sent on his way with his arm in a cast and an order to go home, Philip carried on with the mammoth trip which saw him cycle through four countries, taking in France, Italy, Austria and Germany.

Philip, 19, who has just started his second year of a biology degree at the University of York, set off from his family’s home in Haute Vienne, in France, at the beginning of August. He headed to Marseille, around the coast, to Monaco, Italy, Pisa, Rome, Ancona, then embarked on an uphill struggle to the Alps, riding through the mountains to Stuttgart in Germany, then back into France and on to Strasbourg and through Paris before again heading south back to Haute Vienne.

He cycled an average of 100 miles a day. “It was 12-hour days of cycling from dawn to dark,” he said.

“The hardest section was over the Alps, going up the high passes and with the colder weather, but for the rest of Europe it was the hottest month of the year, with an average climate of 35C. It didn’t help having my arm in plaster.

“When I got to the end I felt enormous relief. Having had 29 days of constant cycling, it was a brilliant feeling when it was over.”

Philip said it was his family’s background in the army – his father, grandfather and great-grandfather all served – that inspired him to do the trek.

He also plans to join the army when he finishes his university course. His trek raised just over £3,000 for the legion.