Haywards Heath: Football fans take to bikes to follow England – BBC News

Four football fans have got on their bikes to watch England play in the European championships in Germany.

Tony Hunt, from Haywards Heath, West Sussex, who only took up cycling at the start of the year, joined the group at Wembley as they set off to cycle through Kent and across the English Channel via Dover.

They quartet are raising money for the charity Crohn’s & Colitis UK, a condition Mr Hunt has been affected by.

He said: “My first question when I was lying in hospital was, ‘Will I ever be able to play football again?’ It shows there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

Mr Hunt and his friends – Matt Roberts, Terry Bowyer and Louis Spiteri – will ride through Belgium and the Netherlands, arriving in Germany for England’s match against Serbia on Sunday.

He said the idea for the trip started as an unlikely challenge.

“We had a few beers and decided, ‘Well, why don’t we just cycle to Germany?’ he said.

“Then I think it turned into a game of bluff – who was going to be the first to say, `It’s a silly idea’?

“No-one did, and here we are.”

Speaking to BBC Radio Sussex from Belgium on Thursday, Mr Hunt described how taking up cycling was a chance to get fit.

He said: “I’m 33 and I’ve had my first season of not playing football. I’m starting to get niggles and I was taking a few days to recover.

“At the turn of the year I thought, ‘Why not buy a bike and try and get into cycling?’

“I’ve never owned a bike before.

“It seemed a good opportunity to get fit and we were always going to go to the Euros anyway, so why not cycle?”