'I rode my scooter from Lands End to John O’Groats in one day.'

To encourage people to raise money for Diabetes UK, I decided to try and ride my 125cc Vespa scooter from Lands End to John O’Groats in one day. The plan was to try and do the run on Saturday 20 June 2009, as it was the final day of Diabetes Week, and this was the weekend of the longest day!

The fund raising has gone well, with contributions being made from various companies.

My scooter was prepared free of charge by a local bike garage and Arnold Clark Garage supplied a large van free of charge to act as my support vehicle.

As I needed the van for a period of four days, and considering I would be driving for nearly 2,000 miles, the cost should have been in the region of £400.

As well as supplying the van, Arnold Clark tasked their body shop to mark up the van with signs, including my just giving web site for diabetes UK ( www.justgiving.com/tommothomson2 ), my telephone number and the fact that it was donated for Diabetes UK. This was brilliant at communicating the message of Diabetes UK to everyone I passed as I travelled from the end of Britain to the other.

This was a trip that seemed to capture the interest of the nation, and as a result I was interviewed by the Sun newspaper who published a full spread on us as a family and how we have to cope with diabetes as a family. This was excellent coverage, and also got my website out to the nation.

After much planning, I eventually set off from Hamilton in Lanarkshire for Lands End  with the scooter in the back of the van.

The van was driven by two colleagues of mine from Strathclyde Police, who are also friends from my bike club the 'Blue Knights'.

The plan was to drive through the night and arrive in Penzance first thing in the morning. The trip down took nearly 13 hrs!

That was a shock, as I realised for the first time that there was a chance that I may not make my 24 hour target, as I had nearly double that to do to get to John O'Groats!

After a few hours sleep in a really nice youth hostel, it was off to Lands End, where I unloaded the scooter, gave her one final check over, changed into my Highland costume (complete with ginger wig over my crash helmet) and at 0001hrs on Saturday 20 June I set off for John O’Groats.

I have to be honest and tell you that I did not expect the journey to be anywhere as difficult as it was.

I had hoped to average about 50 mph over the journey that would see me arrive in plenty of time, however due to the adverse weather, the huge hills that had to be crossed and the many miles of country roads, I could only manage an average of 40 to 45 mph for the duration of the trip.

Although it was incredibly exhausting, there were some great moments. Almost every car that went by, gave a toot and a wave, encouraging me to keep going.

I was joined by other motorbikes who stayed with me for part of the journey and at one point, I was at the front, in my splendid highland kilt and waistcoat, long red hair blowing in the wind, with as many as 15 motorcycles and the Diabetes UK Van following behind. It was an awesome site.

I did this journey to raise money, but more importantly to show my son, a Type 1 sufferer since he was nine, that he is an inspiration to me. To somehow show him that he has support, and to highlight how proud I am of the way he has coped with his condition.

But something else happened. At times when I stopped, I was approached by strangers who wished to pass on their thanks to me and take just a couple of minutes to tell me of their loved ones or themselves who were sufferers. They too were getting support from my trip, which really was the icing on the cake.

I carried on up the country, through rain and wind and even some blistering sunshine. I stopped in at Hamilton services where I had a wonderful surprise as I was welcomed by my family along with about 40 well wishers.

This was very special to me as I could actually see the realisation on my son's face that they were here for him and people like him, and he took a tremendous lift from it.

At 11.31pm at night, I arrived at John O'Groats, some 23 hrs and 30 minutes after I started from Lands End. I had managed it. It was a great feeling knowing that I had stood at the furthest ends of Britain in the same day, and that I had travelled between them solely on my small 125cc scooter.

I would have said it was horrific, but the first couple of hours were good fun, but after nearly 24 hrs of wind, rain, no Visor on my crash helmet (didn’t want to spoil the look of the costume…doh!) and sitting in the same position, I couldn’t stand up on my own and my eyes were the size of tennis balls!

Still it was all worth it in the end!. The fund raising is going well with cash still coming in. As it stands at the moment I have raised approx £2,500 for Diabetes UK. In addition I have secured a donation from two large corporations, one is UK national and the other international, and although I don’t know how much of a donation they are going to make, it may allow me to increase the total to over £4,000.