An Alexandria grandfather has completed his mammoth bid to cycle to all 42 Scottish Professional Football Clubs to raise money for charity.

David O’Donnell decided to make the marathon journey after his grandson Aidan Kane was struck down with a rare condition three years ago and ended up in hospital.

The 69-year-old made it home on Wednesday afternoon (April 24) and described the 25-day, 1,050 mile trip as ‘the best’ he has ever done due to the amazing strangers and kindness he encountered along the way.

So far he has raised over £2,100, which will be split between Glasgow’s Children’s Hospital and the Encephalitis Society – a charity that supports people like Aidan who have been affected by the condition which causes inflammation of the brain.

David told the Reporter: “I stayed with about nine hosts from Warm Showers (a hospitality exchange for cyclists), who were absolutely brilliant, so much so that I’m going to go in my motorhome next month and do the route all over again to visit all these people.

“Everyone I met was out of this world. In Aberdeen, someone shouted over to me. He was sitting in a sleeping bag on the pavement and he asked me what I was doing and I told him and he put his hand into his hat on the ground and took out the money to give to me.

“I was on the radio on Friday afternoon before the trip on the Out for the Weekend programme, with Cat Harvey and we did a ten minute interview. Then when I was sitting in Inverness waiting for my wife Morag, a guy walked up and said I heard you on the radio and put money in my pocket.

“I never had one bad experience, everyone was so fantastic. If I’d had another week to go I could have done it because I didn’t want it to stop. It was tremendous."

Read more: Dumbarton FC back David’s epic charity cycle

David clocked up about 45 miles a day during his trip, which saw him meet St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright and Inverness Caledonian Thistle boss John Robertson, as well as Dunfermline legend and Provost of Fife Jim Leishman.

He added: “I only had one day of rain and some of the clubs were very good. At St Johnstone I met the manager and assistant manager and the manager donated £100.

“Then when I arrived at Annan Athletic it was 2.55pm and their game against Berwick Rangers was just starting.

“I always asked at clubs if I could go trackside and get a photo taken in front of the main stand. They said you can’t now, but you can wait and they took me in and gave me lunch.

“At half-time I was taken onto the pitch and there was an announcement on the tannoy and I got a big cheer off the crowd.”

Today (April 26), David went to Glasgow’s Children’s Hospital to hand over part of the money raised and on Sunday he is hoping to add to his total by taking part in the Kiltwalk.

But despite returning from his epic tour just days ago, he already has his sights set on his next challenge – a cycle around more than 120 whisky distilleries in Scotland.

David said: “An Italian guy in Aberdeen suggested doing whisky distilleries because he loves his whisky, so he might come and do some with me.”

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