Stray cat inspires Swansea student's cycling challenge

A student is taking on a bike challenge after he was inspired by a stray cat.

Jean-Louis Button is cycling 10,000km (6,200 miles) around Britain to raise money for a Cats Protection branch and other charities, in a challenge expected to last 60 to 70 days.

Mr Button, who studies at Swansea University, said he woke up to find stray cat Jess in his student room.

"I was sleeping with the door open and I woke up hearing a cat purring," the 28-year-old from Milton Keynes said.

"I could see Jess was in a pretty poor state. I could see she needed help and I just needed some company."

Jess was checked by Cats Protection, who found her microchip and managed to get hold of her owners.

"For several reasons they couldn't look after her any more, so I took ownership for about seven or eight weeks until my cycling journey started," Mr Button said.

"To be honest, I was really suffering from with the isolation and the loneliness. I was in a pretty dark place for quite a while. Just being able to have Jess with for company, it just meant the world, honestly."

Mr Button, who studies environmental sciences, said he "loves pushing his boundaries" and wanted to do something to support the charity's Swansea branch.

His previous challenges include cycling 1,000km around the Netherlands and Belgium in flip-flops, and this time Mr Button decided to cycle around the UK coastline.

Three weeks into his challenge, he reached Scotland, and he plans to make it back to south Wales before university term begins in September.

"I started in Swansea and made my way along the coastline to Liverpool and then carried on keeping the sea on my left until I reached Scotland. I've covered just over 3,500km in just over three weeks.

"I've only had a handful of wet days and a few hot ones where you sweat buckets, but overall, I've been lucky with the weather. I've mainly been wild camping and stayed in a B&B twice after I got really drenched.

Mr Button said Jess would be rehomed by the charity because he will not be able to keep her in his new student accommodation when he returns to Swansea.

"I'd love to look after Jess when I get back, but I don't want to get in trouble when the landlord comes round.

"Jess will be going to a permanent home. She's quite old, she's about 18 years. Just for her to be in one place and looked after is more than enough for me. I'm really grateful for that."

The other charities he is supporting include Water for Kids, which operates water sanitation projects in Africa, and the world's largest school dinner programme, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, based in India.