LINDA McCartney is sponsoring a Bolton Abbey cyclist as part of a campaign to promote healthy living.

Awestruck Rob Reynolds-Jones met Linda's legendary husband Paul earlier this month as the famous couple launched the world's first "All-Veggie Cycling Team".

Rob is part of a six-man team who will be cycling 20,000 miles this year to highlight the athletic advantages of partaking in a low-fat, meat-free diet.

Linda decided to sponsor Rob after hearing about his vegetarian interests and because cycling embraces a healthy outdoor lifestyle she and Paul are keen to push.

As part of the deal Rob and his team-mates will try out a range of food from Linda's famous meat-free range.

Rob told the Herald how her ex-Beatle husband treated the cyclists to lunch and a personal tour around his recording studio after the launch of the team in London.

He said: "I went down to London for a meeting at Linda McCartney Foods and afterwards we went down to Paul McCartney's recording studio in Sussex.

"Paul came and had a bit of lunch with us. It was absolutely amazing. He was doing all the Beatles stuff and playing his double-bass which he said had once belonged to Elvis.

"He was playing the piano and the drums and telling us stories about his life. It was all very relaxed and we were asking him all sorts of questions."

Linda said: "Cycling is the boom sport of the 90s and meat-free living is the boom diet of the 90s, so there's a natural synergy between these two very good ways of keeping fit."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.