New hips spur Willand man's adventure

By [fmcelhone] fran mcelhone

A MOTORCYCLIST is celebrating overcoming years of pain and two hip replacements — by journeying from the top of the world to the bottom for charity.

Gerald Roberts, 65, from Willand, will cover 22,000 miles in 19 weeks from the Alaska in the Arctic Circle to the Argentinian region of Patagonia.

He has already raised £6,500 for the Devon Air Ambulance.

He will descend the Americas continent on the Alaskan Highway into the Canadian rocky mountains and past the glassy waters of Lake Louise.

From there he will pass into America and Yellowstone National Park and Monument Valley.

Crossing into Mexico, he will follow the Caribbean coast through the tropical countries of Central America, including Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Gerald will then continue from Ecuador through the Andes mountain range in Peru and Chile, before finally reaching his destination in Patagonia.

He said: “I organised and paid for the trip with Globebusters two years ago, then something started telling me I must use the opportunity to inspire people and give something back.

“For years I’ve had to put up with pain from my hips and the last seven years since my hip operations have been better than the 14 I spent dealing with the pain before them.

“The whole idea of the journey is to prove to myself and everyone else out there that it needn’t be the end of the world to have a major health issue like a double hip replacement.

“I want to inspire others like me to enjoy life and to get up out of the chair and go for it.

“Seven years ago this could only have been a dream, now I am going to live it.

“This will be a really big thank you to all those people who took part in helping me towards this goal.”

The air ambulance is worthy of all the support it gets, he said

He said: “Any one of us could need it one day. I really believe that it should be government-funded. It’s efficiency can save lives normal ambulances can’t.

“It is obvious lots of other people feel strongly about the Devon Air Ambulance as the money has been rolling in. I’ve raised enough money to save several lives already.”

Gerald will be leaving for Alaska in July and will be riding with a team of 17 other bikers as part of Globebusters Motorcycle Expeditions.

Caroline Creer, fundraising director of the Devon Air Ambulance Trust, said: “Gerald has put a lot of  hard work into organising his Trans American road trip and we would like to thank him for his support.

“This is certainly the trip of a lifetime and we wish him a safe and enjoyable journey.”