A 20 year old memory was stirred when a picture of a dedicated fundraising cyclist appeared in the County Gazette.

Keen cyclist David Lake was first in the County Gazette on June 12, 1998, when he was 47-years-old.

Somerset County Gazette:

The story talked about how he was raffling off 64 tickets at a £1 a tickets to members of he public hoping to win a collage of 52 Native American Indian cards.

He fell foul of strict rules preventing fraud by unscrupulous collectors and had to stop the raffle.

But this set back did not stop David doing his charity cycle ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

The second time he was in the County Gazette was on June 14, 2018, when he was part of Looking Back.

Somerset County Gazette:

The ride which he undertook towards the end of June 1998, took him five weeks and six days.

David not only cycled all the way from Land's End to John O'Groats but cycled all the way back to Wellington.

He did not do the journey alone, as he took with him his dog Rico.

At the time Rico was 12-years-old and David built him a special cycle car which he towed behind his bike on his charity ride.

This cycle car was made out of an old frame and had wheelchair wheels bolted on the side.

Speaking about the epic journey, David, now 67, said: “I can remember the ride.

“I did do training for it and cycled all over the Blackdown Hills.

“I was and still am a keen cyclist and enjoyed the journey which saw me camp out on the trip.

“I recall getting bitten by midges in Scotland and camping too close to a river.

“I managed to raise £1,021 for Save the Children but I think with a bit more publicity I could perhaps have raised more.

“I still help Save the Children as I give some of my wages to the charity.

“I really enjoyed the cycle and I would do it again twenty years after the original journey.”

David who works as a driver for the PDSA still lives at the same house in Gay Street, Wellington, which was his home 20 years ago.