Louis Gaonac’h, who isn’t 13 until May, was cycling somewhere in central Europe when he spoke to The Local Answer… well, he was virtually.

The Cleeve School pupil is part way through a virtual cycling journey, which is taking him from Cheltenham to South Korea, a distance of 5,500 miles, or 8,800 kilometres if you prefer.

“So far he has cycled nearly 700km so that puts him somewhere in Germany,” laughed his dad Julien.

Young Louis, a left-back for Bishop’s Cleeve Rovers Under-13s in the Cheltenham Youth Football League, is cycling 16km every day on an exercise bike in the garage at the family home in Woodmancote and at the current rate he will complete his journey in July 2023.

“He’s doing really well,” said his dad. “He comes in from school and cycles every day.

“There is a tracker on the bike, so we know where he is in the world is, it’s quite motivating.

“He’s already been through France and Belgium, and after Germany it’s the Czech Republic, it’s a good adventure.”

It certainly is, but what inspired Louis to take on his marathon challenge?

“I’ve been selected to go to the World Scouts Jamboree in 2023,” said Louis, a member of Woodmancote Scout Group.

“There will be 40,000 scouts from all over the world there. We’ll do scouting stuff and have fun, I’m really excited to be going, it will be great.”

The jamboree, which runs from 1^st-12^th August 2023, takes place in South Korea, hence the end point for Louis’ virtual cycle ride.

“It takes place every four years, the last one was in the US,” explained Julien. “It’s a big event. Louis had to go to Stroud for the day with a lot of other scouts and after that he was selected for the trip by the Scout Association.

“He got a letter a few days later; he was very happy, very pleased, very proud.”

The trip won’t come cheap, of course, which is why Louis is doing his sponsored cycle ride, a ride which the family is hoping will raise £3,000.

“The whole trip will cost about £4,000,” said Julien. “The parents have been told that they are not just to finance it, they want the scouts to fundraise for themselves. If we raise £3,000 from the virtual cycling it means we’ll have to find another £1,000.”

And they’ve got plenty of ideas in the pipeline with Louis’ mum Catherine planning a bingo night and Louis set to have a headshave in the spring, while Cleeve School is also on board.

“They’re sponsoring him to do a stair climb at the school,” said Julien, who is originally from Nantes in France. “He’s got to climb the same number of stairs as in the tallest building in South Korea.”

That’s a lot of stairs because the tallest building in South Korea is the 123-story Lotte World Tower, which is 555 metres high.

Louis may want to give the exercise bike a miss the day he takes on the stair challenge, although he has been very committed so far.

“If he misses a day he falls behind,” said his dad with a chuckle. “He does it weekends as well, there are no exceptions.

“He even did it on Christmas Day, we took the exercise bike to my in-laws in Sheffield!”

Louis still has a long, long way to go of course, so how is he finding it?

“It’s quite hard work because you have to do it every day,” he said. “It takes about 30 minutes and it’s more difficult when you start because your legs aren’t used to it.

“I knew it was going to be tough but I’m very grateful to everyone who is supporting me.”

So is there anything about going to South Korea that Louis isn’t looking forward to.

“I’m going to miss my parents,” he said. “It will be quite hard not being with my mum because she does everything for me!”

It will also be the first time he has been out of Europe and his dad said: “It’s a massive trip for him.

“I’m very impressed with how he’s getting on with the virtual cycling – he’s still got school, he’s still playing football, it’s a lot of pressure.”

And what about dad, who has plotted the virtual route to South Korea and is  pedalling every mile with Louis, mentally, if not physically?

“Only 556 days to go,” he laughed.

Anyone wishing to sponsor Louis should visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/louis-gaonachjamboree2023