West Australian man Herb Boltong is riding across Europe to raise money for Diabetes WA – and to raise awareness on what is possible for people living with type 2, even once they’ve turned 80.

The octogenarian hasn’t had the smoothest start to his latest odyssey. After enjoying the delights of Amsterdam, including this year’s Pride Parade, Herb and his son Adrian began their bike journey to Belgium, accompanied by a floating barge that would provide sleeping accommodation. The first day’s riding was a 60km stretch between Vianen and Dordrecht, on which Herb managed to crash his bike twice. Apart from a few cuts and bruises, the most damage was to his ego, Herb said.

Day 2 brought a different kind of emergency as fellow passengers on the barge succumbed to a nasty stomach bug. Herb and Adrian soon fell victim themselves, resulting in a 36 hour bout of diarrhoea and vomiting.

“Please be assured it is no fun,” Herb said afterwards. “The upside is I am feeling reasonable this morning and will continue with the bike ride today, heading for a Belgian city called Gent, about 55km away.”

Four days later, Herb and Adrian had completed the first 298km of their journey. After a day’s rest in Bruges, the pair would journey on to Bordeaux to begin the second leg of the journey.

Herb said the scenery (even the fields full of cow pats) had made up for some of the more extreme challenges to date.

“We are having a ball, mind you, it is not always smooth sailing and a sore bum is no fun.”

His diabetes has been one challenge that has proven easy to manage.

“To deal with my diabetes, I keep hydrated, snack a lot and have a break from time to time. My blood glucose level has been between 5.8 to 7.2, which is not too bad for a young fellow like me!”

To follow Herb’s journey or sponsor his ride visit herbontour.wordpress.com