‘She says we can see you off and she’ll try to come and see you along the way. I’ve been looking at a map. It’s a very very long way. Almost a thousand miles, and you have to ride through hills and into England and all the wayyyyyy down into Cornwall to the sea.’
Cam smiled. ‘My, you have done your research.’
‘I’ve marked all the stops on a map on my iPad.’
‘How do you know where they are?’ Cam asked, leaning the bike against the garden wall.
‘Mum checked out Sholto’s website. It’s all on there. I’ve got it all planned with cafés and pubs or places you could pitch a tent. Toilets. All of it.’
‘You’ve been googling pubs?’
‘Yes, but for you, not me. The website says you need to hydrate and eat masses of food – I thought you could fill up on peanut butter pieces and Irn-Bru. Mum says that your support team will have that all sorted. But I’m here to help. And I got you this.’
Lachlan delved into his shorts pocket and held out a small, gleaming pebble with beautiful stripes of silvery grey and white.
‘It’s lucky,’ Lachlan said. ‘Wherever you are, you’ll have a piece of home with you.’
Cam couldn’t reply for a few seconds. No words would get past the lump in his throat, so he hugged his nephew, love surging through him. ‘Thanks, buddy. I’ll need all the support I can get.’
Chapter Nine
Jenna
And now, we’re going to move on to someone who will have been glued to that weather forecast and, I bet, hoping it was a little drier. We’re going up to the very top of the country. To John O’Groats, in fact, where our very own intrepid reporter, Simon Rogers, has been trying out a new form of transportation as he follows the remarkable story of a special family and a unique challenge that has encountered an unexpected twist before it’s even begun ...’
Simon, theBreakfast Todaypresenter, a hulking man in ill-fitting tweeds and a cap, weaved his way from the signpost towards the camera astride a large tricycle. The rain was almost horizontal and the howling wind made him difficult to hear.
‘Over one hundred and forty years ago, Londoner Alfred Nixon had an idea. He decided to get on his tricycle and ride all the way from Land’s End, the most westerly point in Cornwall, to John O’Groats in the very north of Scotland. As the crow flies, the distance is 603 miles, the fastest route along motorways is 874 – but for anyone who wants to pedal all the way, it’s at least a thousand, up hill and down dale.’
With a squeal of antiquated brakes, he stopped in front of the camera.
‘Sorry, folks, just a sec while I get off this thing, which has been kindly lent me by the local museum.’ Huffing, Simon clambered off the tricycle and blew out a breath. ‘Since then, thousands of adventurers have completed this epic journey on foot, on bikes – even on unicycles. Some choose to take the traditional route from Cornwall to Scotland. Others decide to start at the very top.’
Grimacing, Simon stepped into a puddle before he continued, and a man in a hi-vis jacket held a golf umbrella over his head.
‘And from the few yards I just managed, I can tell you that anyone who makes it almost one thousand miles on any form of wheeled transport is a bit of a hero. On that note, let me tell you about the heroes of this particular story, which from now on we’re going to call the Kilt Challenge.’
A VT ran with interviews with Sholto’s family – his parents and sisters. Even though Jenna knew what was coming, it was still a hard watch, bringing up all her own memories of Luke.
When it ended, Simon was standing with a group of people, at the centre of which was Cam, blinking at the camera.
Jenna’s hand flew to her mouth. She might have seen him on grainy Teams but now, confronted with him in HD resolution, her first and very selfish thought was that Carly DiLuca had been mad not to hold on to him.
Cam was taller than she’d realised, with broader shoulders. While he was lean and muscular, he didn’t have the stick-thin physique of a cyclist – though that might change after two weeks.
His hair was shorter than she remembered – he must have had it cut for the challenge.
Her stomach turned over as it had several times since she’d heard, a few short days before, that he was taking over the Kilt Challenge.
Had he felt pressured to step in because of her – or rather, her circumstances? If she’d thought for a moment that was true, she’d be on his doorstep begging him not to do it.
Or had it been all his own decision, because he was a kind and thoughtful, lovely person who wanted to make sure that Sholto’s family and the charity didn’t lose out?
‘And let me now show you the extra twist in this tale. It’s not called the Kilt Challenge merely because it starts in Scotland, with a Scottish team. No, there’s another reason, as you will now see.’
The camera panned away and Jenna gasped as Cam was revealed to be wearing not cycling shorts but a proper Highland kilt with a sporran.
Jenna turned up the volume on her headphones to hear Cam’s interview.
