Dad-of-two John Berry has dropped six stone and five waist sizes while training for the country-wide cycle ride he will take part in this month in memory of his mother.

Mr Berry, 40, of London Road, Chippenham, will cycle on average 100 miles a day as he goes from John O’Groats to Lands End in a bid to raise cash for MacMillan Cancer Care.

The data base designer admits that when he decided to take part in the ride, at his heaviest of 21-stone, he was not sure just how far he would be able to go.

He said: “I will be the first to admit that I was a Tellytubby when I started and I was massively over weight.

“Getting up the stairs without getting out of breath was a struggle and the thought of cycling across the country would never have even entered my head.

“But after training most days for the past year it is just incredible what the average human can do and how far they can go on a push bike.

“I am raising money for the cancer charity because I lost my mum and granddad to the disease and my uncle suffers with bowel cancer.”

Although his wife Sasha and daughter Tabbitha, 16, are supportive of Mr Berry, he admits that it took a while for his 18-year-old son Tristan to come around.

Mr Berry said: “My son actually bet some of his friends that I would not be able to complete the challenge and so he stands to lose some money for not backing his dad.”

When he is not cycling all over the county, Mr Berry will use his Turbo Trainer indoors to make sure he is getting enough practice.

Mr Berry will be completing the challenge between May 31 and June 10.

He has been writing a blog every day since the beginning of his training.

To read his online blog log on to johnotolandsend.blogspot.com or to sponsor Mr Berry go to www.justgiving.com /jmj-jogle.