A MOTORCYCLIST ended up in hospital following a collision just minutes from his home - after recently completing an international charity ride of more than 4,000 miles.

Jason Lewis, who organises the popular Ride CYMRU charity motorcycle event, took on the epic trek to generate money for Nightingale House Hospice.

The Leader reported recently how his friend Andrew Beadle from Coedpoeth died at Nightingale House Hospice in July, aged 49.

Prior to his death, Mr Lewis decided at short notice to undertake a personal challenge - to ride to a Russian border crossing on the Far Eastern side of the Ukraine, and was astonished to have raised more than £1,200.

His friend Andrew, whom he had known since infant school, died shortly before his return from the eight-day trip.

After returning home Mr Lewis led another charity ride from Deeside to South Stack without incident, but on August 7 he was involved in a collision.

He said: "My mum hadn't seen me for weeks with the Ukraine Ride, then the other charity ride - and then I had a stall at Llangollen Motorcycle Fest the week after that.

"So I jumped on my bike and went to see her in Gresford.

"As I was coming back, I went through Gwersyllt and I had the accident on Ffrwd Hill at about 8.45pm."

Mr Lewis, 48, said the collision took him off the bike and left him with several injuries.

He told the Leader: "I've had a bad break to my left arm and wrist and my right fingers are in a mess.

"I have lost part of one finger and had a metal rod put in another to save it. I have knee and rib injuries. It's just a shock that you can do 4,000 miles with no problem and then be two miles from home and have an accident.

"I am lucky to walk away from it and I did the [Ukraine] ride because of Andrew's bravery.

"He was so positive and as I learned with him - there are plenty of people in bad places, but I am still here.

"I am not going to be on a bike for a long time, but it has changed nothing."

Mr Lewis said he is still set on doing his next charity bike event in April next year. His charitable events have raised £93,000 for good causes since 2012 and he hopes to reach £100,000 with the next one.

Speaking of the Ukraine ride, he said: "I reached Duisburg in Germany on the evening of day one, travelling through the channel tunnel and completing 607 miles.

"Day two was my largest mileage in a day covering 720 miles to Krakow in Poland. On day three I entered the Ukraine and the totally unexpected cultural shift.

"It was like travelling back 60 years and my resolve was certainly tested.

"I reached the city of Kiev on the evening of day three and had covered 1,800 miles.

"On day five, I completed the trek to the Russian border. A nerve wracking seven hour round trip to the border location and back to Kiev.

"The road east was even more of an eye opener - a great experience. At the border I had travelled over 2,000 miles from Wrexham."

Mr Lewis rode until 9pm or 10pm each day in order to complete the ride in the eight days. While in Kiev, he said he took a break from the bike and managed to secure a place on an organised coach trip to Chernobyl and the abandoned city of Pripyat.

He said: "A South Korean TV company were also on the trip and were very interested on my own view on the 1986 nuclear disaster.

"I was asked to share the story on camera as I viewed it as a then teenager and the effects on north Wales and welsh farming. The crew were amazed I had ridden from Wales."

On his way through Poland, he also visited concentration camps at Auschwitz.

Describing the experience, he said: "This was a very sad, sobering experience.

"Being in that area of the world I thought it only right to visit, ponder and see with my own eyes the terrible locations I had only read about or viewed on television."

He also travelled back through Luxembourg, with visits to the "now eerie and long unused Circuit de Gueux at Reims", as well as the First World War crater at Lochnagar.

Anyone who wishes to donate to Mr Lewis' fundraising page can visit: www.justgiving.com/jasonlewis2019

North Wales Police confirmed to the Leader that a collision involving a Fiat Punto and a Suzuki motorbike on August 7 at Ffrwd Hill was reported - nobody has been arrested or charged in connection with the incident as yet.