Cllr. Jones, 61, of Staunton Road, Newark, plans to make use of the council’s August break to cycle 1,000 miles and raise money for this year’s Chairman’s Charities, Help for Heroes and Rainbows Children’s Hospice. He will start off from the Scottish landmark on August 11 and is undaunted by the arduous task ahead of him:

“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem at all,” said Cllr. Jones. “I was wondering what I could do that’s different and that might raise some money for charity, and I suppose this is different.

“You’ve got to look at it with the mind-set that it’s not a thousand miles, it’s 10 miles an hour for five hours a day for 20 days – so that’s 50 miles a day. If you put that 1000-mile figure into your head you would never even start!”

The distance between the two farthest-flung points of Britain is traditionally given as 874 miles, and although modern roads and bridges have reportedly reduced this to 838 miles, Cllr. Jones will be pedalling further still: “When you do little detours from the main routes to avoid heavy traffic, you start clocking up a few more miles, so it’s in the region of 1,000 miles.

“I’ve always biked to places, but now I’ve got to start building up the distances,” said Cllr. Jones, who has bought a new 18-speed Ventura hybrid cycle specially for the journey. “My biggest difficulty at the moment is finding someone who’s got the time to drive the support car. I don’t want to do it without support, because then if you do get into any difficulty you do at least have something to fall back on.

“I’ve had offers of doing some, but the difficulty is in getting them back home or getting them there to do that little stint. I won’t be coming anywhere near Newark on the way down.”

Another good reason for making sure he has a support car to hand is that Cllr. Jones suffered a major stroke 10 years ago, but he says the exercise will benefit his health as well as his chosen charities: “It was quite a bad stroke but it was some years ago now, and my fitness is quite important to me. I don’t have a problem with this challenge at all.

“My wife Lorraine is concerned because of my medical history but I’ve got over that, and if I don’t do this now I won’t ever do it. I’ve got an ideal opportunity to raise money for the Chairman’s Charities, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Cllr. Jones says the first major obstacle en route is a massive hill at Helmsdale, near Wick in Scotland, but he suspects that the hardest section will be when he reaches the West Country and takes the rugged, hilly A39 coastal route to avoid the constant heavy traffic of the A30: “I expect this section to be very tiring but it’s also very scenic. By then, I hope I will have built up a bit of stamina!”

Kelham Hall PA Julie Zemontas has also been drumming up support by contacting army bases, holiday camps and local authorities along the route to see if they will provide overnight accommodation.

The first accommodation offer came in almost immediately – from Pru Jupe, Vice Chair of South Lakeland District Council, who runs a B&B with her husband at Milnthorpe near Kendal.

“Obviously I need somewhere to sleep but it will also be handy to relieve some of the holidaymakers of some of their spare cash while I’m there… And it has been suggested that some of the military bases may want to join me just in that section, for a photo opportunity, which might help me to secure some accommodation en route and also generate funds.”

Cllr. Jones has no specific figure as a fund-raising target – “just a lot of money. Whatever I raise, I raise. And Julie in the Civic Office has set up a Just Giving web page to make it easy for people to make a donation.”

He will also be using social media to upload photos charting his progress along the way.

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