“Will Children in Need be paying for his new knees?” Paddy McGuinness completes epic five-day, 300-mile Raleigh Chopper charity cycle, raising over £7.5m – with a little help from Sir Chris Hoy (and a Gladiator)

300 miles, five days in a very retro saddle, some leg-sapping, knee-breaking hills, and a few morale-boosting visits from Sir Chris Hoy (and, randomly, a Gladiator) later, and Paddy McGuinness has finally completed his epic Raleigh Chopper-based ride for Children in Need, arriving in Glasgow this morning having already raised over £7.5 million for the charity.

The BBC Radio 2 presenter and former Top Gear host set off from Wrexham AFC’s Racecourse Ground on Monday, riding a modified version of the iconic 1970s Raleigh Chopper bike, which he named Patch, before making his way through Wales and England – including the pesky hills of the Lake District – and up to Scotland over the following five days.

“What a sight, what a feeling!” the Phoenix Nights star said as he and his Chopper completed their ‘road to nowhere’ (well, actually it was BBC Scotland’s Glasgow-based HQ) at 10.30am on Friday morning, greeted by cheering crowds, bagpipes, Pudsey, his radio 2 colleague Zoe Ball, and an obligatory smattering of confetti.

 

 

 

 

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“Honestly, I can’t believe it,” the 51-year-old, who set off for the final leg from Strathaven this morning, said. “I came out of East Kilbride, I was looking at Glasgow and it was lit up in sunshine.

“Then coming in here and the streets were lined. I had Sir Tom Hunter beside me as I came around the corner there... Thank you so much everybody.”

As the Take Me Out star noted, McGuinness was joined for the fellow leg of his ride by Scottish businessman and philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter, who pledged to double any donations made from Wednesday onwards, up to a £3m limit.

That means McGuinness reached Glasgow having raised £7,556,853 for Children in Need, a figure far beyond his initial target of £1m, and one that is likely to keep rising as the annual fundraising programme airs on BBC One at 7pm tonight.

> Raleigh pledges 10% of sales of latest Chopper release to Children in Need to celebrate Paddy McGuinness’ 300-mile nostalgia-fest charity cycle

At BBC Scotland’s HQ, Zoe Ball branded the 300-mile Chopper ride a “herculean task”, while Chesney Hawkes (obviously) was called up, as is the tradition with such things, to perform ‘The One and Only’.

 

 

 

 

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The broad smile plastered on McGuinness’ face was a far cry from the pained expression he wore as he slogged up the long and gruelling Lake District climb of Shap Fell out of Kendal on Wednesday, as he attempted to haul his modified Chopper over the area’s relentless hills.

Pictured sat by the roadside having reached the 420m summit of Shap Fell, McGuinness said he felt “completely broken, dejected, and finished” – which, in hindsight, makes the little ramp he had to conquer on the way into the studio today a touch cruel, and prompted one road.cc reader to ponder whether Children in Need would be paying for the presenter’s knees after his epic ride.

“After doing Shap yesterday it’s my quads today,” he told the BBC yesterday. “They are so tight, and my fingertips and my toes today, I’ve never felt them as cold, no matter what I’m doing, you know?

“I’m trying to wiggle my hands, put on toe warmers, you know, it’s just absolutely freezing. And my backside, my noisy neighbours are still there... but I’m just ignoring them for now.”

> "'No likey, no bikey' just isn't an option": Paddy McGuinness to ride Raleigh Chopper on 300-mile charity cycling challenge

 

 

 

 

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Nevertheless, despite the hills and suffering he faced, McGuinness’ morale was boosted when he was joined by a few famous faces along the way. These included six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy (who also helped him train for the challenge) and, rather bizarrely, the tight, sparkly spandex-wearing Gladiator star Giant – who may possess the biggest thighs to power a bike since musclebound German team sprint world champion Robert Förstemann.

“Every morning when I woke up, everything was aching, and it was always dark and cold,” McGuinness said after finishing today.

 

 

 

 

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“I’ve been saying it for the last few days, when you get on the bike and you get on the road, and everyone comes out, it just spurs you on. Until you’re actually in that moment, I’ll never be able to get it across what it felt like – all the different sounds, all the cities, all the communities, everyone came out.

“It was just so beautiful to see. The streets were lined with people. It’s a moment in time I’ll take with me to my grave. It was so amazing, I’ll never forget it.”

> “Every single pedal hurts”: Mollie King raises over £1.1 million for Comic Relief with epic 500km London to Hull cycle – despite never riding on the road before

He continued: “On Monday I’m going to walk down to the shop and it’ll be weird without people beeping their horns and waving, and me waving back. You know I'm really going to miss it. I've absolutely loved being involved in this challenge.

“It’s a real privilege for anyone who does it, and just to say the sheer amount of fantastic people in this country is just wonderful.”

Perhaps most impressively, McGuinness went the whole five days riding his bike on the UK’s roads without incurring the wrath of social media addicts, after former footballer Jermaine Jenas was criticised during last year’s Children in Need charity cycle for briefly riding three-abreast (though the ex-One Show host probably now wishes that his cycling faux-pas was the biggest controversy he found himself in all year).