AN INCREDIBLE journey across Central America has helped a pub manager raise more than £12,000 for charity.

John Reynolds, who runs the Tower Inn in Tranent, pedalled 295 miles across Costa Rica in sweltering temperatures to raise the sum for the British Lung Foundation.

The 55-year-old was one of 10 people taking on the challenge for a variety of good causes.

John is no stranger to impressive charity feats, though, having previously trekked the Sahara Desert, Peru and the Himalayan Mountains for Maggie’s Centres.

However, the hiking boots were swapped for a bicycle in his latest challenge.

The cycle started out at Playa Del Coco on the country’s west coast beside the Pacific Ocean, before weaving its way across the country and finishing at Boca del Pantano and the Caribbean Sea.

He said: “It was really, really hard. Days two and three I was ready for throwing it in – it was a lot harder than what I expected.

“A lot of the people I was doing the fundraiser with were keen cyclists.

“It has always been trekking that I have done in the past, this was new to me. This was the hardest challenge the company does.”

The six-day cycle is rated ‘extreme’ by Global Adventure Challenges and is greater in distance and toughness than the cycle across Cuba that John originally planned to do before the organisers pulled the plug.

John, who has run the Church Street pub for six years, was able to switch his attention to Costa Rica but had to dig deep to complete the challenge.

He said: “It was everything – the terrain, the weather. Days two and three was the equivalent of cycling up Ben Nevis in 35C heat.

“Sometimes it was into a head wind and at times it was like gravel roads.”

However, it was the thought of the people who had sponsored him and the memory of his mum, Sheila, which spurred him on.

She was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), which causes progressive scarring of the lungs, in 2011.

By the time she was diagnosed, the disease had progressed and she was unable to receive medication to slow it down, so was provided with oxygen therapy instead.

She passed away in April 2014.

After six days of gruelling cycling, John returned home to the town’s Gavin’s Lee last month.

He added: “To be truthful, now I’m home, I kind of miss not being there. On one hand, I’m saying it was really tough but I am actually missing it. It sounds weird but that is how I feel.”

His fundraising total sits at £12,820.19 with “drips and drabs” still coming in. It also takes his total for the four fundraisers to an amazing £26,000.