Perthshire painter Tess Monteith has made a conscious decision to think positively about her upcoming cycling trip but every now and then she catches herself and asks: “My goodness, what have I let myself in for?”
The 52-year-old, from Blairgowrie, revealed her remarkable plan to cycle 5,000 miles from the mountains of Sichuan in China to the heart of mainland Europe.
Her daughter Francesca will accompany her throughout the gruelling 150-day challenge.
The trip, which will follow the ancient silk trade route, is expected to raise thousands of pounds for Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance, based at Perth Airport.
With just days to go, Mrs Monteith has had her injections and has spent an afternoon training at a Pitlochry bike shop, learning how to carry out emergency repairs.
This weekend, Mrs Monteith will fly out to her 26-year-old daughter, who has lived in Suzhou on the east coast of China for two years.
The pair will embark on their epic journey on February 15. It will take them through the Taklamakan desert, over the Tian Shan mountain range and across the Caspian Sea.
They hope to arrive in Venice, their final destination, at the end of June.
Mrs Monteith said: “It was a joint decision. I suppose I’m getting on a bit now, but I feel like I’ve got at least one more adventure in me.
“I haven’t done a big cycling trip like this before, but I did a trip 20 years ago with my husband and daughter, who was four at the time, when we drove through Africa in a Land Rover.
“This will be very different, of course.”
She said: “My daughter is an art historian so the chance to take the old silk trade route really appealed to her. What she doesn’t know about Chinese tomb structures isn’t worth knowing and I suspect I’ll be learning a lot more than I really want to know on this trip.”
Mrs Monteith will be painting throughout her journey.
“We’re limited to what we can take, but I’m definitely going to include a small paintbox and a sketchbook,” she said.
You can support Tess’s effort at www.justgiving.com/Teresa-Monteith/.