North Wales lads inspire thousands on epic cycle to Thailand
Stephen Price
A group of young men from north Wales are currently cycling all the way from Wales to Thailand in aid of charity, and sharing their epic journey with thousands of followers across the world.
The ‘Westheads’ are teenagers Dyfan Hughes from Llangollen, Louis Dennis from Garth and James Thomas from Wrexham, and they are cycling a mammoth 10,000 mile journey to Bangkok.
The three friends always dreamed of travelling the world so they thought what better way than to cycle to Thailand.
The young men were inspired to cycle to Thailand to not only catch up with a good friend who has been living there for the past 6 months, but also as a tribute to their friend’s father, Tony Edge, who died following a heart attack earlier this year.
The Westheads wanted to do something to help others who may be affected by heart-related illnesses, and decided to combine the journey with raising money for the British Heart Foundation in memory of their friend’s dad.
To help get things in motion, the Westheads set up a GoFundMe page to help cover basic costs of the trip – bikes, gears, visas, food, repairs and the like, sharing: “We are funding most of it ourselves, but with your help we can go further, safer, and share more along the way.”
They have also set up a separate JustGiving donation page for the British Heart Foundation and any donations will be much appreciated.
To date, they’ve raised over £14,000 for the lifesaving charity, providing huge comfort to Tony’s family and inspiring their over 100,000 social media followers in the process.
They wrote: “Think of this as backing three idiots on a mission. We will be sharing every pedal, every flat tyre, every breakdown, on social media, and using the platform we build to point people to BHF and encourage donations directly.”
And can they actually do it? There’s only one way to find out – through their ever-growing TikTok and Instagram accounts.
@westheads Day 100 of cycling from North Wales to Thailand (A Recap of our journey so far!) 🇹🇭🏴🇹🇷 If anyone would like to donate there’s a link tree in our bio with the donation page on , any donations are much appreciated cheers you legends ❤️ Thank you so much for all the support you’ve shown to us throughout these 100 days, we’re so excited for what’s to come! #trending #cycling #viral #thailand #Wales ♬ original sound – westheads
Discussing what inspired them to take such an epic tour, as they hit day 117, the group told Nation Cymru: “We were inspired by other travellers that record on social media, our dreams have always been to see the world!
“And to know we could raise money for a great charity in memory of a mate’s father, whilst cycling towards him and living the dream along the way, it was a no brainer!
“And we we’re so determined to make this happen we quickly did lots of research and got everything together, then three months later we left.”
View this post on Instagram
They added: “So far, we have thoroughly enjoyed the trip, it has been amazing!
“Obviously there are some days where it gets tough, but the highs are far superior.
“The people we met have just proven to us that the world is full of many amazing human beings, meeting some people who we will be friends with for life now!
“Everyone that we have met has wanted to help – if we are struggling with maybe a bike problem on the side of the road, in less than 5 minutes someone has came to try help and it’s just amazing to see!
The group are currently staying in Batumi, Georgia over the colder months, preparing for the gruelling ride ahead, and servicing their bikes so they are in top notch condition ready for what they consider the most challenging countries.
They also need to get Visas sorted for the next leg of the journey, and are making a start on a YouTube channel for longer videos to satisfy the demands of their hundred thousand plus army of followers.
They shared: “After our stay in Georgia we will be heading to Tbilisi airport and flying into Azerbaijan and catching the ferry to Kazakhstan.
“This will be a very difficult part of the journey as there are long roads without any civilisation nearby – no shops or anything!
“Everyone at home has been amazing at helping by sharing our videos and promoting our videos, and donating to such a great charity!
“It really does help and we appreciate it so so much!”
Help the Westheads along their inspiring journey with their GoFundMe.
Support Westheads’ fundraiser for British Heart Foundation with their JustGiving page.
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
