Yahoo News This man set himself a bizarre Greggs challenge and said 'it's been quite hard work'
A TikToker is on an unusual mission to visit every single Greggs in Wales in eight days. When we spoke to him the 24-year-old, who lives near Reading, had so far visited 120 branches, meaning he had 70 left, as there are 190 Greggs stores in the country at the moment.
Matty Turner, who has a following of over 200,000 users on TikTok, is a professional British cyclist who has already established himself as one of the best up-and-coming talents in the UK street trials scene today, and loves nothing more than trying something new.
He is no stranger to taking on challenges that are out of the ordinary, and he even set a new Guinness World Record in 2021 live on Blue Peter for ‘the most bounce forward somersaults on an exercise ball while riding a bicycle in one minute’, which was almost double the previous record, as he achieved 11 in total. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter
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“I love Wales, and have come here a fair bit before so it’s an incredible way to see it. By the time I’ve finished, I will have pretty much visited everywhere in Wales”, the TikToker told WalesOnline, as he spoke about his latest quest.
The dedicated TikToker is splitting the journey into chunks, so is spending one day in Wales at a time and then going back to England when he is not travelling. “I’m going back and forth between Wales and home because I need to be making money to fund it”, Matty explained.
When asked what made him want to take on the unusual challenge, he said: “I travel around a lot in my campervan and love to go on adventures, and get outdoors. And every time I’m in Wales I see a lot of Greggs. So I searched it up to see how many Greggs there are in Wales, and the number was reasonable. So I thought - Iet’s give it a go!”
“I just thought it would be a fun road trip, and it’s been pretty amazing. I’ve been doing long hours on the roads. I’ve been doing like 15-hour road trips like three days in a row, and it’s been quite hard work but it’s been so fun and I’ve met so many people along the way. Everyone I’ve met has been so nice and they’ve all loved the idea of it, which I was kind of surprised at as well. It's managed to gather quite a lot of attention and people who have viewed it has been really loving the journey. I've had thousands of comments and likes and views and stuff so it's definitely picked up in Wales."
When visiting each Greggs store, Matty has been buying something from them, as he has also needed the food between long journeys- as well as doing tricks outside the stores on his bike. He said: “I’ve pretty much just been eating only Greggs as I don’t really have much time in between to get food from different places. I did also meet a man who is homeless in Merythr who I bought some food for. I bought him a bit of pizza and a drink and stuff, so I’ve also being trying to connect and build relationships with people along the way.
“It’s been nice to have people’s interaction with me as well because it’s quite odd to see a guy turn up to Greggs with a bike and a camera and do a trick outside them. Quite a lot of people speak to me and say - ‘that was pretty cool’- and stuff. And generally I am trying to eat it all. Because I’m burning so many calories I am currently eating pretty much the majority of it.”
For as long as Matty can remember, he has always been outdoorsy, and chased down adventures through road trips and exploring. Once he started travelling in his camper van, he wanted to see more and more.
When he is not out and about, Matty also works a lot with brands on social media to fund different challenges and trips outside of work. Considering what motivates him, he said: “It’s all about seeing what’s out there, for me. And with my van that I’ve got it’s allowed me to be very free. You can just get in and go somewhere, and for me there’s nothing much more exciting than being able to travel and go to different places.
"I've done quite a lot of cycling work in Wales and spent a lot of time there, which has helped me to grow connections. Doing what I'm doing now has allowed me to meet new people and it's through those relationships that I've got to know Wales quite well."
Looking into the future, there are several more challenges that Matty wants to take on, including taking his bike up to Snowdon and doing tricks, as well as doing the three peaks. He added: “Given how popular the Greggs challenge has been with people, I will probably also just look to keep doing things like that.
“I’ve also been told that Jenkins, the bakery, is also quite popular in Wales, so maybe that will be on the horizon too.” You can follow Matty’s journey, and see his other videos on Instagram and TikTok, under the handle, @mattyturnertrials.
