A man is embarking on a 1,800-mile tour on a 50cc moped of places with rude and funny names. Paul Taylor, from Wantage, Oxfordshire, is making the charity fundraising trip in memory of a friend who died of cancer.
Mr Taylor's Slovenian Tomos XL45 Classic moped has a top speed of 28mph.
His journey will begin in Shitterton, Dorset, on Wednesday and will take in locations such as !"£$ in Orkney and Booze in the Yorkshire Dales.
He said he chose Shitterton, near Bere Regis, as his starting point because of its "appealing" name. "Everyone starts a long journey like that from Lands End to John O' Groats - I wanted to do something similar, with a bit of twist," he said. "There's some good ones around there, like Happy Bottom Nature Reserve and Sandy Balls New Forest Holiday Park."
Other destinations include Pity Me in Durham, Dull in Perth and Kinross, and the neighbouring hamlets of Crazies Hill and Cockpole Green near Reading in Berkshire.
Funny street names on his itinerary include The Knob in King's Sutton, Northamptonshire, Butthole Lane in Shepshed, Leicestershire, and Titty Ho in Raunds, Northamptonshire.
Mr Taylor said after his friend Alexis Leventis died of cancer last year, aged 55, he wanted to do something "to help beat this awful disease".
"I thought this trip was a suitably ridiculous place to start and, as Alexis was a motorcyclist as well as a car nut, two wheels was not only appropriate but made it more of an adventure."
Mr Taylor, who has named his challenge the Moronic Moped Marathon, will be mostly camping on his trip. He is raising money for the Institute of Cancer Research and will be recording his progress on social media.
Source : BBC News website 15/08/21
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