Cumbrian pensioners and their bicycle made for two

Wigton pensioners Ian and Heather Thwaite, both 82, have travelled thousands of miles across Europe and the USA – on a bicycle made for two.

Not only that but they pedal out on their trademark tandem three times a week on a 28-mile round trip from their home in Longthwaite Crescent to a cafe in Silloth, where they enjoy a coffee and read the newspaper.

It’s a remarkable way of spending the day for the couple, at a time of life when many pensioners are more likely to enjoy a comfy chair and a cup of cocoa.

Avid cyclist Ian has just returned from a 770-mile cross country trip through Holland, Germany, France and Switzerland with friends.

He said their fame has spread through north Cumbria, with people recognising them on their journeys.

Ian told The Cumberland News: “Cars pass us and people stop us and say: ‘You’re the couple with the tandem’.

“All these people want to talk about the tandem and a lot of people say: You’re still doing what a lot of people would like to do.

“Wherever we go, the tandem is a point of interest for a lot of people.

“Some people say: ‘We would like to do that but I think we’re too old now’.

“I say: ‘We’re in our eighties and we’re still cycling, how can you be too old?’.”

Ian said the couple tend to go on the back roads, adding: “The traffic now is horrendous for cycling.”

For that reason they regularly visit Holland, where the roads are more bike-friendly.

They’re part of a cycling club there and have made many friends.

The recent buzz of the Olympics might have encouraged more of us to get out and about on our bikes.

But like Trott and Kenny – Team GB’s famous cycling couple – this intrepid cycling team deserve a medal of their own.

“We’ve cycled all up and down the place,” said Ian.

“We’ve cycled the west coast of America, Sweden, Denmark, France and Spain.

“You name it and we’ve been on our tandem.

“Nobody else goes. Just my wife on the back. I wouldn’t pull anybody else around,” added Ian, a former engineer at British Sidac, now Innovia Films, in Wigton, where he worked for 44 years.

Ian and Heather also enjoy fell walking and regularly go on four or five hour treks in the Lake District.

When asked why they like to stay active, Ian said: “I couldn’t tell you.

“I thought if I get a tandem, we’ll see how it goes. We seemed to take to it right away. Heather thought it was grand.

“I subsidise her a bit, if that’s the right word.

“I wouldn’t let her on the front. I’m on the front but she wouldn’t want to go on the front anyway.

“She just sits on the back and its grand for her.”

Heather said: “I just like being outside. Being outdoors and going places.

“I prefer the tandem now that I’m getting old. I would go on my own but not as far as I do on the tandem.

“I just sit on the back and enjoy it.”

The pair have always enjoyed getting out-and-about and have met all kinds of people on their journeys.

As a teenager, Ian always wanted a motorbike.

But his mum insisted on buying him a car, a Morris Eight, which he and Heather would enjoy a run out to Keswick in on a Saturday.

“We could go anywhere, within reason, with this little Morris Eight car and we had it for years. It went like a bomb,” said Ian.

One of their first tandems was a makeshift bike Ian bought from a vicar for next to nothing.

He put two seats on the crossbar for his children and, with Heather on her own bike, the family would cycle to Dalston to see her dad, who lived in the police house.

Their first actual tandem came from Bridgwater, at a place Ian spotted when he needed his bike fixed down south.

Ian and Heather were married 61 years ago in the Methodist Chapel in Dalston, the village where Heather grew up and where they lived as newlyweds.

They met as youngsters going to school in Wigton.

She was at the grammar school and Ian went to the boys’ school.

They have three grown-up children – Allison, their first born, Lindsay and Gary – and are also grandparents.