Great Blakenham to Bristol - 12-year-old completes 230-mile cycle challenge

Lovisa Yates and her dad Jamie cycled from their home in Great Blakenham to the Shelter HQ in Bristol over four days.

This is the third big challenge that Lovisa has done by bike, with the first coming when she was just nine years old when she cycled from Great Blakenham to the Shelter in Norwich, creating the hashtag #home2shelter.

Lovisa says this might be the last challenge she does by bike, having racked up 380 miles on bike (Image: Jamie Yates)

The next was when she cycled from her home to London, with her destination being the main national Shelter office, a total of 100 miles.

The 12-year-old is raising money for Shelter, a homeless and housing charity.

Lovisa said: "The reason I want to keep doing these challenges is because I feel very lucky to have a home and whenever I go around town, I always see all these sleeping bags around and I always think it is really sad and I just wonder how people get into that position."

Lovisa has already done two challenges, cycling to both Norwich and London, but wanted to take it one step further (Image: Jamie Yates)

Lovisa and Jamie cycled 230 miles in the heat to reach their destination (Image: Jamie Yates)

Over the 230 miles, they entertained each other by singing, and telling jokes to one another, as they didn't want the battery to run out on their phone as they were using the GPS on it.

Lovisa said: "What keeps me going through these challenges is lunch, snack stops, ice cream stops and definitely the shade."

Cycling during the high temperatures the country has recently experienced, both say that the heat was the hardest challenge they faced on their travels.

Jamie and Lovisa Yates (Image: Jamie Yates)

Lovisa said: "The heat was painful. Quite a lot of the time it was small country lanes so the hedges wouldn't be tall enough to provide shade, but would be tall enough to block off wind and breeze."

Jamie said: "One day we were cycling and it was high up, so there was barely any trees for shade, that was the toughest day for me."

Understandably after a journey like that, both Lovisa and Jamie were aching, with Jamie saying his hands really hurt and Lovisa her legs.

Lovisa at her final destination, the Shelter in Bristol (Image: Jamie Yates)

Lovisa has a challenge of reaching £3,500, and to donate to help her reach the goal and raise money for Shelter, donate here.