Green cycling team beat rain, snow and hills to reach John O'Groats

Brothers Josh, 31, Luke, 29, Zach, 26, and Seb Green, 23, joined by their father Mike, 57, decided to undertake the journey in support of Breast Cancer Now after the matriarch of the family, Viv, 62, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016.

The team raised more than £17k with the effort via their JustGiving page, including nearly £4k in gift aid.

Seb said before the ride: “This was actually Dad’s idea, probably three or four years ago now. He managed to convince Josh and they both managed to convince the other three of us to do it as well.

“We’ve all played for Salisbury Rugby Club since the age of six. We’re all very sporty.”

Viv, along with her sister Frances, formed the cyclists’ support team along the journey.

Seb said: “A massive thanks to our support team- my mum and my mum’s sister Frances. They would make our sandwiches at lunchtime, they’d go out and buy the food for us, they’d fix any broken bikes, they would have food there prepared for us when we got back into our hotel rooms, they would be carrying all of our bags to and from the room so we most definitely couldn’t have done it without them and we owe them a lot of thanks.”

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The nine-day ride started with favourable weather during the first five days, before the team crossed the border into Scotland.

Seb added: “Nothing against Scotland, but as soon as we crossed the Scottish border, that was when all of our problems started, really.”

On the sixth day, the team had their longest segment, cycling 120 miles from Penrith to Edinburgh, which included traversing the Devil’s Beef Tub.

On the eighth day, the team woke up to snow in the Scottish Highlands.

Seb said: “When we turned off the road to go up this cycle track there was then some not too thick snow but enough to slow us down.

“I never thought we would ever have to be cycling in those conditions but we all wrapped up warm. I think I had six layers on and gloves and socks and all sorts trying to keep warm.”

The team were lucky in that there were few mechanical issues with their bicycles, although most problems seemed to stem from Seb's bike.

Seb said: "My bike seemed to cause the most problems. I had two punctures in very quick succession on day seven, which kind of slows you up a bit because you’ve got to go and change the tyre and everything, but then towards the end of that day, as well, my back gear cable snapped, which meant I was stuck with the gear on the back—which wasn’t ideal—and Mum, as the bike support team, took it to the bike repair shop the next day and they repaired the cable but it turns out I need a whole new back wheel, as well, because the spokes are completely gone.

"That was probably the most annoying repair that we had to do but fortunately we carried a spare bike with us so I was able to cycle on that the day Mum went to the bike hospital."

The quintet reached John O’Groats on Saturday, April 6.

Seb said: “The feeling of elation, joy, happiness- it was almost incredibly surreal that we’d actually defeated this challenge, because of all the different conditions that we faced along the way. It almost seemed kind of unbelievable that we’d actually done it.”