A TEACHER has battled isolation boredom by cycling all the way from Land’s End to John O’Groats... without ever leaving her living room.

Louise Douglass, who teaches PE at the Deanes School in Thundersley, was left with an extremely sore bottom after virtually cycling over 1,000 miles in nine days to keep our frontline staff safe during the coronavirus outbreak.

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Head down - Louise hard at work

The 39-year-old, from Basildon, managed to get through a host of films and shows on Netflix while taking on the gruelling challenge, cycling up to five hours a day to raise funds for the Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals Charity, following their urgent appeal for personal protective equipment (PPE).

She said: “Everything has been a bit crazy at the moment, so this was the perfect way to keep me entertained not to mention help out a fantastic cause- all from my living room.

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Athlete - Louise with her static bike

“I set up a Just Giving page and within an hour of deciding I would take on the challenge, I was already on the bike in my front room smashing out my first 60 miles.

“Completing 100 miles a day was certainly hard mentally and obviously physically, but anyone that knows me knows I love a challenge. You sit there sweating, racing and giving it your all but you’re not even going anywhere and it was so uncomfortable I dreaded getting on the bike. I had to just put mind over matter and eventually I actually began to enjoy it, managing to get through a whole load of Netflix.

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Always smiling - Louise 'got through a whole load of Netflix'

“I used Zwift to keep the boredom at bay, which is an online cycling and running platform that gives you visual courses to cycle around.

“On day nine I got through the last 130 miles in one six hour ride. We’re aiming to get to £1,000.”

To donate visit https://bit.ly/2V61OeI