Amputee who climbed Everest ready for charity cycle

The first above-the-knee double-amputee to climb Mount Everest is taking part in a military veteran charity cycle from Kent to Belgium.

Hari Budha Magar MBE, from Canterbury, will set off from the Royal British Legion (RBLI) Village in Aylesford on Friday morning.

Mr Magar will complete the 150-mile (241km) cycle to the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres across two days in a group of 40, which includes three colleagues from his days as a Gurkha serving with the British Army.

The adventurer and disability campaigner, who lost both legs 15 years ago while deployed in Afghanistan, said he was "excited" by the challenge.

"It's a long way, I haven't trained that much so I'm a little bit nervous as well...nothing is easy in life, that's my principle," he said.

Mr Magar says is he looking forward to seeing friends from his army days, but that ultimately the decision to take part is rooted in his "responsibility" to support the RBLI.

Those three colleagues and Mr Magar all lost limbs to IEDs (improvised explosive devices) in the same week.

The father-of-three said he blew the horn at the start line of last year's cycle, but thought he would like to take part "one day".

The route, which will first journey through the Kent countryside to Dover before continuing into France, will see the group arrive in Ypres on Sunday via the German Cemetery at Langemark and the Allied Cemetery at Tyne Cot.

Mr Magar believes it will be "quite moving" at the finish.

"As long as I complete it, that's what matters," he added.

Lisa Farmer, chief executive of RBLI, said: "Hari is a force of nature and, despite having already conquered Everest, has gone on to set himself the challenge of climbing the highest mountain on every continent in a bid to prove disability is no barrier."

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