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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Patrick Barkham

‘I’m 90 for goodness sake’: rainforest activist to pedal 104 miles down Thames

Hanbury-Tenison on his water bike with red floats with trees behind
Robin Hanbury-Tenison: ‘I’ve been doing lots of training. All I do is pedal away on an exercise bike.’ Photograph: Merlin Hanbury-Tenison

Pedalling on water for more than a hundred miles in a heatwave, pushed back by east winds and having to navigate 31 locks would be a challenge for anybody. But when that body is 90 years old, with a bad knee, failing balance and malfunctioning arms and shoulders, it’s a herculean feat.

Rainforest campaigner Robin Hanbury-Tenison, 90, is pedalling 104 miles down the River Thames from Oxford to Richmond on a water-bike to raise money for a unique research station which is being built to study Britain’s temperate rainforest.

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