A COUPLE who had their first date on a bike ‘to break the ice’ have just completed their 3000th mile together on Millport.

Having been set up on a blind date Colin Calder and Diana Lokhart, found themselves sharing a tandem and now they have their own and have cycled around Scotland and France.

The couple decided that Millport was the ideal location to bring up their milestone.

Colin said: “It seemed a natural destination for breaking our record.

"We love visiting what we call ‘Costa del Millport’ because it offers a real escape from the mainland.

"You seem to leave everything behind as you as you travel ‘overseas’.

“We are regular visitors - usually at least three trips a year, sometimes for the weekend, other times for a whole week.

“Millport and Isle of Cumbrae really is a cyclist’s paradise of almost traffic free roads, never more than a few yards from the sea with stunning scenery."

Colin and Diana cycled 20 miles on the island to reach their milestone distance.

Colin said: “We pulled in to a viewpoint at the memorial at Tomont End to take in the magnitude of the moment.

“We tandemed on for another couple of miles til we arrived at our private picnic table – a perfect setting for a Prosecco celebration.

The pair have documented their trips on trusty tandem Matilda on an award winning weblog ‘Matilda’s Musings’.

It has taken the couple around four years to reach their target and there is no sign of a change of gear.

They hope to hit the 4,000 mile mark on the Hebridean Way next year.

Colin added: "It's all about the smiles, not the miles is our motto.

“We got in to this by accident, we had planned a walk and a picnic at Loch Katrine in the Trossachs but as we arrived we noticed tandems for hire.

“We thought that would be a fun way to break the ice and remove any awkwardness but we were hooked immediately.”

“We would thoroughly recommend it to couples wanting a bit of fun and a bit of exercise, and what better place to give it a try than to hire one of the many tandems available from the bike hire shops on Millport."