When long distance lorry driver Robert Rhodes retired after 42 years of trucking the length and breadth of the country, he decided to get on his bike instead.

The 63-year-old, of Waterfront Mews, Apperley Bridge, Bradford, packed his one-man tent, map and portable stove and set off on a 1,000-mile road trip from John O'Groats to Lands End.

With only himself for company he slept wherever he could set up base for the night, buying just enough provisions for each meal as he cycled through Cornwall, Devon and the Scottish Highlands.

“It really was breathtaking," said Mr Rhodes, who was under strict instructions from his wife Audrey to call home every day.

"She was used to me being away for short spells at a time, but that two weeks was the longest we’d ever been apart in all our 17 years of wedded life,” he added.

His only mishap was while pushing his bike up a hill on the busy A41 to Wolverhampton along what he thought was a grass verge. It turned out to be a ditch, into which he and his bike rolled, landing in a heap of nettles.

“Other than that, it all went to plan nicely,” said Mr Rhodes.