Timmy Mallett: I cycled all around Northern Ireland and the people are so warm and generous

During his seven-and-a-half weeks trip, he’s cycled on the strand at Benone, where he also came across a horse and cart galloping across the sands (“the weirdest most wonderful thing to see”), watched road bowling in Tassagh, Co Armagh, then enjoyed live music and the convivial atmosphere in Basil Shiels Bar & Restaurant, he also met deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly at Parliament Buildings and much more, documenting all his adventures in his highly engaging social media posts.

So, what prompted the 68-year-old to take on such an epic, solo journey? The answer is his beloved older brother Martin who had Down’s Syndrome and lived an extraordinarily rich life. Sadly, Martin died in 2018, but since then Timmy has been determined to live his own life to the full, squeezing every moment of joy out of every single day.

"Martin would say ‘Ma bubba.You and me. I’m happy’. Martin lived every day of his life in the moment. For him that was the important thing, and we don’t do that very often. We say, ‘life will be great when I have the weekend, when I meet the deadline, when I get the promotion’, but what’s wrong with the here and now?

"That’s my message about being in the moment and making the most of every day. Don’t worry about tomorrow, that will take care of itself. Make sure that today is the best it can be. And that is my message from Martin.”

Of his cycling expedition, he says: "I’m not raising funds, I’m raising a smile and thinking of my dear brother and remembering him with little Martin Mallett name tags in particular places along the way where I think of him.”

Mallett (his real name) is a man of many talented parts. As well as his hugely successful career as a children’s TV presenter of the Wide Awake Club and Wacaday, and number one hit with a cover of Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, he is an accomplished artist and writer.

Following Martin’s death he did a two-month bike ride through France and Spain, taking in the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route, about about which he published a memoir.

And last year he started a circumnavigation of Britain, cycling 5,500 miles.

“When I got back to Paddington I looked at the map and thought there’s a wee bit missing, which is Northern Ireland. I put a date in the diary and I said I will go in March, so I came here on March 23, which was a week of complete storms. So, it was quite a challenging start.”

He recites all the places he’s visited in NI offering his candid and amusing observations.

“There’s a cycle path beside the dual carriageway from Belfast to Bangor, which is nuts. I went to Portaferry,..that was glorious even in the wind and the rain; South Armagh, where the roads never go straight; the Fermanagh Lakelands and Belleek Pottery; I met a lady in Clady whose house is in the UK and garden is in the Republic; I visited Sion Mills and Strabane and into Londonderry (which he abbreviates to ‘DLD’). I loved that city, it’s got fabulous cycle ways around the Foyle. Then I went on to Limavady (‘Limavegas’) and the village of Blagh (he says, “Blaaaaaaaaaaagh”). I did a little video there which has got the most hits on my trip; I went to Rathlin and someone said ‘you going out to the puffins, because it’s all uphill on the way, and it’s all uphill on the way back’. And it was!; I cycled the Greenway from Belfast to Lisburn, a fabulous cycle route, it’s really one of the best in the UK I’d say. And that completed my 750 miles in Northern Ireland. I got a day off to go and visit my godfather in Dundalk.”

But the intrepid traveller wasn’t finished yet.

“Then I had a message saying ‘Don’t forget us in the forgotten county’ and I thought it’s only fair that I have a look at Donegal, because it’s the most northerly county."

So he hopped back on his trusty steed and toured the many sights of that county.

Known for his flamboyant clothes and glasses, Mallett certainly turned heads on his pedal-powered pilgrimage. So does he dress to stand out, to make a statement?

"The clothes may have been conscious early on, but now, that’s how I am. I wouldn’t comfortably pick up and wear black and black. Colour seems to suit me and I’m comfortable in colour. It certainly makes me feel happy to wear lots of colour and I would always say ‘as long as the colours clash’.

His bicycle was also given a colourful makeover for the trip.

"I painted it with a sponge and watercolour paints and then a workshop varnished it and did lacquer with a sparkle and now it’s noticeable.”

Each day he cycled around 25 miles or more, but didn’t, thankfully, get saddle sore.

"I get quite comfortable when I sit on the bike. The slower I go, the happier I am. I think what I am learning is to cycle less distances and to see more.

"Every journey is a pilgrimage. There’s a bit of discovery in every single journey that you do and during the course of each day, the people you meet and the things that happen,

"I plot a route of around 25 miles a day. Then there’ll be detours, so I’ll probably do closer to 30 or 35 miles. There are reasons to stop, to get my sketch book out, to make a little video or to be absorbed and in the moment.

“I carry watercolours with me because they are easy to carry. On a warm dry day, they dry very quickly. I’ve got some watercolour pencils and some pen and ink materials and I will make an effort to sketch, paint or draw every single day.

"In the evening, in my accommodation, I’ll work those sketches up into something a little bit more finished.

"I am doing something all the time (on this trip), I’m not sitting around. I haven’t turned the telly on and I haven’t read a newspaper since I’ve been here.”

People can buy the paintings on his Mallett Fine Art website.

“I paint a lot. At my home (in Berkshire) I have a studio and I’ll work some of these sketches and paintings into finished oil pieces. I fully expect to spend the next couple of months working on paintings inspired by the journey round Northern Ireland.”

As well as the beautiful landscape, he was struck by the warm welcome he received in Northern Ireland.

“It’s been really joyous. I didn’t go more than a couple of hundred metres before somebody beeped their horn and said ‘hello’, or asked did I want a cup of tea. There’s a warmth and a generosity (in Northern Ireland) that is really noticeable and utterly joyous.”

"I’ve always found it be an attractive place with good people, but I’ve not done something like this before. It’s got a lot to be proud of and a lot to celebrate.”

If an opportunity arises to write a memoir about his trip, he will, but adds: “First of all my team, Oxford United, is at Wembley on Saturday (today) and then I’ve got shows to do next week.”

Mallett enjoys living life in glorious technicolour and approaching his 70s, he’s still full of vim and vigour.

"I think it’s important to be in tune with your feelings and the day. Dear Martin, just that way that he lived in the moment, it sounds so simple, but it isn’t, you have to work at it – except children don’t. A friend of mine said these are your golden years, when you have your health, your stamina and your desire to do something – this is the time to do it. I am absolutely determined to fill these golden years with everything I possibly can.”