Sky-high ambition: Meet the man who's flying from Land's End to John O'Groats... by bike

By Tamara Cohen and Elizabeth Hopkirk
Last updated at 9:19 AM on 25th July 2009

It looks far too solid ever to get off the ground. But if John Carver pedals really hard, revs up his little lawnmower engine and thinks happy thoughts... he is soon 2,000ft up in the air.

Then, give or take the odd rain shower, he stays up for two glorious hours, pootling along at 25mph and enjoying the fabulous views unfolding below.

His flying bike, or flyke as it is known, is taking Mr Carver on an epic 800-mile trek this summer, from Land's End to John O'Groats, touching down to camp in fields along the way. 

If he succeeds, it will be the longest ever journey taken by a flyke. He hopes to raise £10,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation as well as break a record.

Mr Carver, an Old Etonian, bought the £8,000 German-built craft six years ago.

It weighs a mere 110lb and takes off at just 20mph, needing a 'runway' the size of a football pitch. The parachute canopy helps get it aloft and touch down.

The flyke has only recently been legalised in Britain and Mr Carver has registered it with the Civil Aviation Authority. 

 

The 37-year-old IT teacher from Oxford will strap himself in for the ride on August 1, along with a tent weighing just 17oz. Its 15-litre tank takes unleaded petrol.

'When you wheel it into a petrol station and you tell them it flies, they don't believe you,' he said.

Like the British weather, two-stroke engines are notoriously unreliable and he is resigned to having to cycle some of his route.

He has learned the hard way not to risk flying in winds over 15mph, after being flipped over by sudden gusts.

But he is adamant there is no better way to travel. 'You are totally at one with the sky. It's that freedom that is quite special.' 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1202033/Sky-high-ambition-Meet-man-whos-flying-Lands-End-John-OGroats--bike.html#ixzz0MSCEJfG2