Love hurts for anniversary couple as crash ruins cycle

AS bright-eyed newlyweds they accomplished a honeymoon challenge to cycle the length of the country.

But, 30 years on, a bid to repeat the feat has been dealt a cruel blow after a nasty fall forced them to call off their attempt on the first day.

Kenny and Lynn Taylor had planned to mark their pearl anniversary by reliving their epic honeymoon cycle ride from Land's End to John O'Groats, with a stop to renew their marriage vows at Gretna Green.

On the first leg of their romantic adventure, though, Kenny came a cropper as he tinkered with his front wheel while cycling.

The 52-year-old, who works for Lloyds TSB corporate banking, wedged his finger in the spokes, jamming the wheel and sending him sprawling on to the tarmac, leaving him requiring hospital treatment.

"It was all down to me sadly," said Kenny at his Willowbrae home where he is recovering. "We were five miles from Land's End and I heard a funny noise coming from the front wheel.

"Instead of stopping to have a look, I tried to fiddle about with it while cycling. The next thing I knew I was over the handlebars."

A woman in a nearby house called an ambulance and Kenny was taken to A&E, where he was found to have a fractured humorous bone and dislocated shoulder.

"It was a double whammy," said Kenny, who will have raised more than 1000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust when they complete the trip.

"It was excruciating, not just physically but emotionally, because it was very frustrating not to be able to fulfil our plans.

He added: "It could have been so much worse because it was on a busy road and, if there had been a car coming, the outcome could have been very different."

The Taylors also had to cancel their anniversary party in Gretna which friends and family were due to attend.

They had set a target of three weeks to cycle around 1000 miles, compared with their 1981 expedition which took them just 16 days.

Mr Taylor said: "It has been meticulously planned for the last 12 months.

"We liked the challenge of doing it again 30 years later and were both fairly confident that we could do it. We will have to wait until next year now but we're still determined to try it again."

The father-of-four added: "The most ironic thing is that this was the first time I have crashed in 30 years of cycling, and it happened on the day of our most important cycling trip."