Sean Johnson (37) and Donna Tanner (42), former colleagues at Craegmoor Health Care, Claremont Lodge, had planned a 5,000-mile trek from Melton to Dover and then through Europe to the island of Krk in Croatia, and then cycling back again via a differ
ent route, in aid of Rainbows Children's Hospice and The Melton Project.
But they had to come up with a plan B after the frame of Sean's bike snapped on their outbound journey after they reached just north of Dijon in France. They were cycling about 50 miles a day when disaster struck.
Sean, of Bishop Street, said: "We'd covered just over 1,000 miles and were just north of Dijon when my bike broke. The frame just snapped under the weight of equipment I was carrying.
"We were stuck in the middle of the countryside. It was absolute panic but there was no chance of us turning back. It was too expensive to replace my bike so we decided to sell Donna's bike, send some stuff back home, and hitchhike the rest."
Sean and Donna got their thumbs up and managed to hitchhike through France, Germany, Austria and Slovenia and onto Croatia before finally reaching the island of Krk. They spent almost all their nights camping by the side of the road along the way.
Sean added: "I've hitchhiked before but Donna hadn't. We were service station hopping. We were waiting at a station in Croatia for two days before setting off again. At one point we thought we were going to be stuck there.
"We got such a good response from people. We had some bits of paper with translations on in case people's English wasn't very good."
Sean and Donna stayed on the island of Krk for a week before hitchhiking all the way home back across Europe. It took them six days to get back.
The pair are still collecting sponsorship for their epic journey but are still welcoming further donations. Anyone who would like to make a donation can call Sean on 07523 535711.
