WITH more than 9,000 miles on the clock and after ten months on the road, a Natland woman on an epic cross continental cycle has made it to her target destination only to decide to pedal on for another few thousand miles.

Meg Lee set out from Nordkapp, Norway's most northerly point, in June 2002 with the aim of biking all the way to Calcutta in India.

And now, after she's finally made it - despite dodging Europe's worst floods, obstructive visa clerks in Iran and heel-nipping dogs in Turkey the 51-year-old nurse is cycling onwards to Australia.

"Calcutta should have been the end of the story, but in Nepal I met some other cyclists pedalling from Perth, in Scotland, to Perth, Australia," said Ms Lee in an e-mail dispatch. "It sounded like an amazing journey so I was drawn back to Kathmandu to join the group and extend my trip a little further."

Ms Lee's original motivation for the pedal-powered trek had been to experience a long journey and raise money for Calcutta Rescue a charity supporting the city's poorest citizens where she had worked as a volunteer dressing wounds in 1999.

But due to her hasty departure in June she did not manage to gather sponsorship so the epic excursion was transformed into a personal challenge.

And a challenge it has proved to be, as the nurse who used to work at Arnside home Westmorland Court, biked across 15 countries and three continents.

When she finally made it to Calcutta she stopped to say hello to her former colleagues at Calcutta Rescue, before cycling to the Victoria Memorial in the heart of the city only to meet with one last test.

"Throughout the journey I had visualised this beautiful relic of the Raj as my finishing point. I reached it just as the sun was going down, but as I sped through the gateway I was stopped by guards who pointed to the No Cycling' sign!"

But after explaining about her incredible journey, Ms Lee was allowed to wheel her trusty bike into the park to take some triumphant photos.

Rather than idling in the glory of her completed challenge, she was soon back in the saddle and joining her new cycling team in Katmandu. Since then she has conquered the steep, high-altitude Friendship Highway' from Nepal to Lhasa, stopped off for a break at Everest Base Camp and is now riding through Eastern Tibet.

Readers interested in updates of the group ride to Australia can log onto http://www.pedalperth2perth.com

May 29, 2003 17:00