Greg Bagley is a real interesting kind of guy. For a start, he says he likes the English weather!
 
That’s something of a surprise when you consider he’s an Australian, who spent large parts of the first 25 years of his life either looking up at brilliant blue skies or down at sun-kissed beaches.
 
“I’m from Townsville in Queensland which is about 1,000 miles north of Brisbane,” said the 40-year-old, who these days lives with his wife Jo and their two young children in Charlton Kings.
 
“You could almost set your clock by the weather where I lived in Australia. Over here it’s much more interesting, you never know what it’s going to do from one hour to the next. It’s really exciting.”
 
‘Interesting’ and ‘exciting’ are not two of the words that have been tripping off the tongues of everyday county folk who have been talking about the weather – and more specifically the Beast from the East – over the past few weeks!
 
And it’s fair to say that even Bagley’s love of all things weather in this part of the world has been put to the severest of tests over the past week or so.
 
You see, Bagley, a physio, who has recently set up his own clinic – W5 Physio Cheltenham – in Charlton Kings, was part of the back-up team which helped Radio 1 DJ Greg James complete his Pedal to the Peaks challenge – a remarkable test of endurance which has so far raised more than £1 million for Sport Relief.
 
James’ challenge was to climb three of the highest mountains in the UK – Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis – and cycle the distances between them.
 
That was obviously some challenge, but after completing the first two legs the 32-year-old horseracing fan, who is a familiar face at Cheltenham Racecourse, was forced to postpone the third leg because of the horrific weather conditions that have been sweeping the country.
 
And that’s where Greg Bagley came in.
 
“I was asked if I could be his physio on the final leg,” said Bagley, who also runs a clinic in Ealing in London with his business partner. “He needed another physio because of the change in dates.”
 
Bagley was only too happy to oblige, of course. He’d worked as a physio at both the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and at the 2014 Commonwealth Games so thought he was well prepared to provide the necessary support for James.
 
He was, of course, but what he hadn’t factored in were the desperate weather conditions that would grip the country – conditions which wouldn’t have been out of place in the Arctic – for the final leg of James’ challenge.
 
And James had saved the toughest till last, because that final leg consisted of a 180-mile cycle ride from Moffat in Dumfries to Fort William before, almost incredibly, the final task of scaling Ben Nevis.
 
For James, the easy option was not an option and Bagley, who saw at first hand what he had to go through to complete his challenge, has nothing but huge admiration for him.
 
“The weather was biblical,” he said. “I was following behind him on the cycle ride in the medical Land Rover and it was the most intense weather. It was heart in the mouth stuff. To be honest I’d have preferred to have been cycling with him.
 
“The weather was godawful, the wind was gusting up to 45mph, lorries were being blown from side to side, it was raining, it was unbelievable.”
 
And it must have been bad because James later told Bagley that the weather was even worse than the Beast from the East – the vicious band of weather that he’d battled through on the first two legs of his challenge, and which forced the postponement of the third leg.
 
And while the weather was horrendous, the cycling was not the only challenge that James faced.
 
“The most ridiculous thing,” chuckled Greg, “was that every hour and a half he had to stop and do an insert for Radio 1.”
 
And while James was doing those live inserts, Bagley was working on the DJ’s body, easing the aches and pains… and reassuring him that all would be well after some rest and recuperation in preparation for scaling Ben Nevis!
 
Bagley was also working on James when he was doing his daily live show from 4-7pm.
 
“He’d be lying down in the trailer and I’d be giving him a sports massage and generally trying to loosen him up,” Bagley explained.
 
And when they finally arrived at Fort William, Bagley would treat him again.
 
“We got to Fort William at about 11pm,” said Bagley. “I was back in his room at 6am and he was on Ben Nevis at 7am.”
 
The weather, of course, had not relented one jot.
 
Despite that James reached the peak at 1.15pm and came back down to cross the finishing line at 4.50pm.
 
So what sort of condition was he in?
 
“He was all over the place,” said Bagley, “he was an absolute mess.”
 
He’s not now, of course, partly because of Bagley, who said he would be happy to provide support on any similar challenges in the future.
 
And while James has certainly achieved something pretty incredible over the past few weeks – as viewers watching the BBC’s Sport Relief programme tonight will see – Bagley, who should also feature in tonight’s show, has done pretty well himself over the past few years as well.
 
He came to this country in 2003 and has been living in Cheltenham for close on seven years.
 
“I’ve always been fascinated by Europe since the age of 12,” he said. “I’m very happy over here – I’ve got a wife, children… and a mortgage!”
 
His wife Jo was educated at Balcarras School, just a stone’s throw from where the family live, and their two boys – Alex, 8, and Luke, 6 – are pupils at Charlton Kings Junior School.
 
And Greg has certainly thrown himself into the village way of life in Charlton Kings.
 
“A bunch of the dads at the school set up Charlton Kings Velo,” he said. “A couple of them were keen cyclists and I said let’s set up a club. That was a couple of years ago and we’ve now got 40 members.
 
“We’ve got our own bespoke Italian-made cycle kit – we’re trying to be posh because we’re in Charlton Kings!”
 
And as well as being posh, they’re clocking up the miles as well.
 
“We’ll ride for 30 to 50 miles on a Saturday morning, depending on how much time we’ve got,” Bagley said.
 
“We’re going to do a few 100-mile races this season and a group of 10 or 12 of us are going off to the French Alps in July.”
 
So, off to the mountains again! And after his experience with Greg James, the one thing Bagley’s hoping for more than anything else when he heads up into the clouds in a few months’ time is some nice weather!