HE travelled 300 miles through unfamiliar continental landscapes, endured substantial headwinds, and was even knocked off his bike.

But Allen Valleys man Ray Bather insisted his Centurion Ride was a “wonderful, difficult and emotional voyage.”

The 58-year-old, from Spartylea, has completed his eagerly- anticipated ride from St Quentin in France to Dunkirk on the Channel coast, which formed the British Front during the First World War in 1917.

And in doing so, Ray placed hand-made poppies at 100 war cemeteries along the route, which included the graves of soldiers from the Northumberland Fusiliers.

The father-of-two, himself a former military man who served as a flight lieutenant with the RAF for 21 years, took on the challenge to pay a fitting tribute to the Fallen.

Dressed in a First World War British Army captain’s uniform, he completed the mission in less than 10 days, raising over £1,900 in aid of the Royal British Legion.

Meticulous preparation went into the mission, during which Ray was accompanied by fellow military veterans Marc Adams, who served with the British Army, and Ray Tilley, who served with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in support of the Royal Navy.

At the end of a phone was Ray’s supportive partner Karon, who played an integral role in planning the journey.

“I did what I set out to do,” said Ray. “It was a wonderful, difficult and emotional voyage.

“The scale of this trip is beyond conception. The utter devastation, the extraordinary loss of life is so incomprehensible until you retrace it and see it for your own eyes.

“My final cemetery was Dozinghem in Belgium, and it was enormous, with over 3,500 graves.

“It was a field hospital and there were many men they could not save – they lie here.”

Aside from the cemeteries, Ray encountered many adventures along the journey, and met people from various parts of the world, including some from the UK at a German war cemetery in the Belgian province of West Flanders.

He explained: “At Langemark there was a party of schoolchildren from Somerset and their teachers encouraged them to listen to my tale.

“In one French village I saw an old gentleman standing at the side of the road and wished him bonjour. As I passed he shouted ‘wondorfool, wondorfool!’”

The encounter was the highlight of a grim day for Ray, who was recovering from an earlier incident in which he was knocked off his bike after pulling over to read a map.

He said: “I stopped in a safe place to check the map with my head down, and then ‘bang’.

“I went backside over breakfast time, the bike somersaulting. I turned around to see a Renault had reversed out of a parking slot straight into me.

“The driver got out and saw this man in a First World War soldier’s uniform sprawled face down in the road. He was profusely apologetic and helped me pick up the bike.

“The bike was fine and I got away with a slightly damaged tunic and a bruised shin.”

One of the graves visited by Ray was that of Captain Lionel Plummer, the grandson of Joseph Catherall, who founded the Courant in 1864 and became its first editor.

Capt. Plummer was in the Northumberland Fusiliers and died in the middle stages of the Somme battles.

Ray said his experiences on the Centurion Ride will stay with him for life.

He added: “I’ve stopped calling it World War One, and will never do so again after this experience.

“To me, from now on, it can only be the Great War, because that is what the French and Belgians called it.”

Ray kept a fascinating blog throughout his journey which can be viewed at https://centurionride2017.com.

To sponsor Ray, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/TheCenturionRide, his Facebook page or call 07702 262075.