A former policeman has battled through gale force winds and temperatures below -20°c to drive 8,000 miles around Europe ON A TRACTOR.
At an average speed of just 10mph, Peter Matheson embarked on a round trip to and from John O'Groats via Land's End and Nordkapp, the most Northerly region of Norway.
In the course of the five month journey, the 51-year-old retired policeman racked up a whopping 14 punctures and has raised over £5,000 for a cancer charity.
Retired policeman Peter, from Elgin, Moray, spent almost six months behind the wheel of his vintage Massey Ferguson tractor with only his faithful Labrador, Amber, for company.
He celebrated his 51st birthday on the epic trek and encountered some terrible weather in northern Europe between October and January.
"On one occasion I was hit by a massive storm when a lorry driving in the other direction lost control. Luckily it was ok and it only threw water up in the air to drench me.
"It was a steep learning curve!"
On another occasion, he was driving through a Norwegian mountain range during gale force winds and had to cross a bridge with a steep drop on both sides.
He said: "It was a horrible, horrible day.
"When I got there, there just wasn't room to turn and this bridge was straight up and straight down.
"I put the tractor in gear, gritted my teeth and just went for it.
"Aside from that, minus 20°C was the only genuine low point.
"Looking back, it was an amazing experience. For every low point, there were so many highs, like the Northern Lights and all the amazing people I met."
Having started in August, he arrived back in John O'Groats on Saturday 24th January and is now back home in Elgin, Scotland.
He said: "For me, the best part of it was easily the people I met. Until you do something like this, you don't know how many good people there are.
"The thing everyone asked me was 'Are you completely mad?'
"My philosophy's always been: you only have one life so live it and, to be fair, it was all for a great cause."
Peter was raising money for the Tom Bowdidge Foundation.
Tom, from West Bergholt, Essex, died aged 19 in 2013 from an aggressive stomach cancer.
Before he died, Tom raised more than £170,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust and his parents have set up a foundation in his name.
In total, Peter has raised over £5,000 for the charity and has set his sights on raising more.
Peter's route took him to John O'Groats, Land's End, Harwich and Esbjerb, in Denmark, before he drove to Nordkapp in Norway.
He returned via Germany and The Netherlands before crossing to Harwich and making his way to Land's End.
He is now planning to write a book about his journey before auctioning off some of his mementos and a future tractor trip around Ireland.
ENDS
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261030 GMT JAN 15
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