Westheads hit the national TV headlines from China

The three lads from the Llangollen area cycling to Thailand for charity have hit the national TV headlines.

On an ITV Wales news bulletin yesterday (Monday) the Westheads, as they are known, told a reporter over an online link about the incident that briefly threatened to stop their overland odyssey in its tracks.

As revealed last week by llanblogger, the trio of Dyfan Hughes, 18, from Llangollen, Louis Dennis, 19, from Garth, and James Thomas,19, from Wrexham were making their way through the burning hot wastes of China's Taklaman Desert when disaster struck.

Louis ran into the back of a car as he momentarily looked down at his map, leaving his Dawes bike, which had brought him all the way from Llangollen, "a total goner".

But learning of his plight on their daily video log Emma Davies of Llangollen Bar Shop leapt to the rescue and within 10 minutes had raised hundreds of pounds for a replacement bike by putting out a call for help on social media.

Louis retold this heart-warming tale in his ITV News interview, which was headlined "Three boys, three bikes and one destination."

And he described the support from "Emma, our barber back home" as amazing.

He added they had also had "surreal" help and support from people in all of the many countries they had passed through so far on the trip, which is expected to last for at least another 120 days.

In their latest video diary Louis reveals that he didn't escape unhurt from his accident with the car and had actually sustained a fractured wrist. However, a doctor at the hospital they visited said it didn't look too bad although he was advised not to get back in the saddle for a couple of weeks.

But with limited time on their visas that was going to be a problem, he admitted. 

The Westheads are making their 10,000 journey in aid of the British Heart Foundation in memory of Tony Edge, the father of their friend Harrison who died following a heart attack in 2024. Harrison now lives in Thailand.

They have so far raised over £30,000 for heart research.

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