A dedicated grandad has broken the Guinness World Record for cycling the longest journey ever - by rickshaw.

Len Collingwood smashed the current record of 1600 miles by cycling from Scotland to the outskirts of Berlin.

The 66-year-old is now only halfway through his epic journey to reach Istanbul - a total of 3200 miles from Edinburgh, where he lives.

Len set off from the Scottish capital on June 1 and has made his way through England, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany so far.

He has spent three days recovering with his wife Sally, who flew over to join in with the celebrations.

"I'm absolutely ecstatic. It is a wonderful feeling," Len said.

"It's great to know I have done it and set a new world record.

"It was an unplanned stop but I wanted to celebrate and I've missed my wife as we hadn't seen each other in around six weeks so it just seemed the perfect time to meet up."

Len is familiar with long distance cycling after completing an 8000-mile ride from Mongolia to Scotland in 2012.

He has been eating around 4000 calories a day to fuel his effort of cycling between 40 and 60 miles a day.

The dad-of-two said: "I can't stop now, I need to keep putting in the miles in order to keep the record.

"I set out to cycle to Istanbul and that's what I'm going to do.

"I've been looking after myself, eating a lot of carbs and protein.

"I usually start the day with a coffee, granola, eggs on toast and then have some cheese sandwiches for my lunch.

"In the evening I'll have a meal with rice, eggs and vegetables before having supper, which is usually a hot chocolate and more cheese sandwiches."

Len has been self-sufficient, camping in his tent throughout the opening seven weeks of his quest.

He is hoping to raise £15,000 for Cancer Research UK in the process of having his name written into the record books.

Len says the journey up until now has been good, but that the roads ahead will be more demanding when he reaches the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

He added: "The most difficult part for me so far has to be the cobbled streets in southern Belgium. You feel like your teeth are going to fall out.

"I can do hills and would prefer riding up one of them instead. I'm feeling strong and thankfully I've had no niggles yet.

"East Germany was very pretty and I really enjoyed riding through that area.

"I'm in a very confident mood now I've set the record.

"The rickshaw was all new to me before the trip but I've got the hang of it now and I know my capabilities. I am certain I will make it to Istanbul."