“LANDS End to John o’Groats on steroids” is how Farnham man Dr Marcus Watson has described his 1,400-mile solo cycle trip for the Alzheimer’s Society next month.

Dr Watson, a business owner and investor in environmentally-sustainable businesses, will depart Land’s End unsupported on Sunday, April 10, and has charted a route taking in all four corners of Great Britain.

His zig-zag journey will take in the southern-most tip of the British isles at the Lizard in Cornwall, continuing on to Lowestoft Ness Point in the east, and Ardnamurchan lighthouse in the west, before arriving at the UK’s northern-most point Dunnet Head, and finally John o’Groats.

Dr Watson, who is also a council member for the Confederation of British Industry and a visiting professor at Warwick University, said: “I am 49 years old, unfit, overweight and slow and so zig-zagging my very heavy bike (37kg fully laden) across Great Britain will take me 30 days or so.”

He completed a “simple” LEJoG in 2019, covering a mere 950 miles on a 15-year-old second-hand bike, having not cycled for 29 years to any degree.

On that occasion he and his best friend Vinny raised £7,000 for children’s cancer charity Young Lives v Cancer.

This time, Dr Watson is heading out on his own for a charity close to his heart, having seen four people in his family struggle with dementia.

And he faces an added challenge to get fit in time, having dislocated his left knee on Monday!

He hopes to cycle around 60 miles every day.