Teen Raises £2,500 In 600 Mile Edinburgh To London Cycle

As the Tour De France came to an end at the weekend, one teenage cycling fanatic was enduring a mammoth 500-mile charity ride of her own.

Grace Stewart-Piercy, 14, of Lanchester, County Durham, cycled from Edinburgh to London in just six days, raising nearly £2,500 for homeless charity Shelter.

Grace, who completed a 150-mile coast to coast ride when she was just nine, was joined by her father, Simon Stewart-Piercy, who cycled more than 100 miles with a fractured arm after falling off his bike on Friday morning.

An emotional Grace arrived to a noisy welcome party at Shelter headquarters, Old Street, on Monday lunchtime.

She said: I'm tired, but happy. It's been really hard but great in the end, great to get back.''

Grace added: We've done bike rides each year but we just push ourselves harder. We chose Shelter because there is so many homeless people and it is a worthy cause.''

On her father's accident Grace joked: No, I don't fall off.''

The pair thanked their supporters throughout the country.

When people realised what we're doing then we got a lot of support, the send off in Edinburgh was brilliant and the welcome here is great too,'' said Mr Stewart-Piercy.

Chief executive of Shelter, Campbell Robb, said the achievement was absolutely amazing''.

She is very emotional, she has come a long way. It is this kind of action and enthusiasm that sends a message to people that are homeless, or are worried about losing their home, that there are people out there doing this great thing for them.

"Especially because she's so young, it shows there's a generation of people helping. People say young people don't care.''