Luton cyclist raises more than £20k for charity in 21-day challenge

During the challenge Ms Quince said: "It's very much a bubble when you're inside the challenge. After that you then think how do we get back to normal life, it's a very strange feeling"

A woman who challenged herself to cycle across seven countries has raised more than £20,000 for charity.

Ottilie Quince spent 21-days cycling more than 2,500km (1,553 miles) from her hometown of Luton to Mallorca.

In the past 15 years she has had a kidney transplant and two bouts of cancer. She said she used cycling as part of her recovery.

Once she crossed the English Channel to Calais, she said "it felt like the challenge had really begun".

Ms Quince finished her challenge in Mallorca a place she now calls home where she was joined by 22 other cyclists to keep up the camaraderie

Travelling through France, Switzerland, Germany and four other countries, she tried to replicate the Grand Tour as much as she could.

Before setting off, the Luton cyclist knew the hardest part of the challenge would be Alpe d'Huez in south-eastern France.

She said: "It was horrendous as there was a massive storm half way up. It all was part of the adventure, we got down OK and we had to wait quite a while and go from there."

Speaking of the preparation behind the challenge, Ms Quince said: "I guess if anyone wants to do something just go out there and start it... you just kind of plant the seed and have the idea and go ahead and do it really."

She said: "I never knew I could actually do it, I knew I wanted to do it... there's got to be a seed of doubt in a challenge otherwise it's not hard enough"

During the challenge she was joined by friends and doctors.

"It makes me feel really proud, how many doctors would go to the middle of France just for the morning," she said.

After going through cancer twice she says, "if it happens again, I've got the right people behind me, the right people on my team"

She described feeling "overwhelmed" by the "incredible support" having raised over £20,000 for UCare and The Urology Foundation.

Ms Quince took up cycling after her kidney transplant stopped her playing football.

She said: "I do something related to cycling everyday... it's pretty much my world and it keeps me motivated every single day and it's kind of my drug... I have my main immunosuppressant's and I have my cycling."

She said she was already planning her next challenge.