Thailand-bound lads reach their wintering spot

* Louis declared the trip has been the best three months of his life. 

The past three months he's spent riding through Europe on the way to distant Thailand have been the best of his life, according to 18-year-old Louis Dennis.

He made the declaration as he and his mates Dyfan Hughes and James Thomas, also both 18, reached the town of Batumi on the Black Sea coast of Georgia where the trio - known as the Westheads - will spend the winter before pressing on towards the Far East early in the new year's better weather.

The lads, all from the Llangollen area, have set themselves an 18-month challenge to reach Asia where they're planning to meet their friend Harrison who moved there after his dad died from a heart attack.

Along the way they're aiming to raise £10,000 for the National Heart Foundation, more than half of which has already been pledged by hundreds of well-wishers back home who are closely following their progress.

As they headed out of Turkey towards Georgia they had to negotiate a large number of tunnels on the coastal route, some of which they risked dicing with heavy traffic but others they judged far too dangerous and jumped into taxis instead.

As they were having their bikes loaded into one of these the driver got a little "ruthless" and caused damage to a couple of their bikes, which required yet another visit to a cycle repair shop.

It was as they reached Batumi that Louis jubilantly told the video diary: "These three months have been the best of my life!"

* To follow the journey on their social media and make a donation if you wish, go to: https://linktr.ee/westheads