HE may be 75, but Newport pensioner William Trickett still cycles up to 30 miles a week in a mission to keep Newport's cycle pathways in tip top condition.

Whatever the weather cycling fanatic Mr Trickett, of Plym Walk, Bettws, Newport, is out cutting down overhanging branches and collecting litter from the National Cycle Network, which runs between Newport and Pontypool.

The dynamic pensioner is a volunteer ranger for Sustrans - a UK charity which encourages people to walk, cycle and use public transport to benefit their health and the environment.

He said: "I've been a cycling enthusiast all my life. At the moment I'm still going strong - I want to carry on cycling until I'm 80."

Each week Mr Trickett takes care of the cycle paths between Newport and Pontypool as well as between Newport and Redwick, Chepstow. He said: "There was a time when the state of these paths really was atrocious.

"The change over recent years has been quite dramatic and has created a network which is suitable for both old and young."

On one of his rounds last year he heard screams of pain coming from a ditch by the canal in Bettws and found a teenage girl who had fallen off her bike and seriously hurt her knee.

"With a bit of luck I had a mobile phone on me so I called an ambulance," he said.

He also made sure her bike was looked after. When the girl came out of hospital she went to visit Mr Trickett to thank him in person. The father-of-five used to cycle for East Monmouthshire Racing Club when he was a teenager.

When he joined the army in 1949 he formed a cycle club there. Eight years ago he retired from his job as a plumber and began volunteering for Sustrans.

And the exercise keeps Mr Trickett fit and healthy. "I haven't been to the doctors once in five years," he said. Even heavy downpours don't put the dedicated volunteer off. "I'm out in the winter - I prefer it to the summertime when you get all hot and bothered," he said.

Gwyn Smith, volunteer ranger co-ordinator for Sustrans Cymru, said: "The work Mr Trickett does on the National Cycle Network around Newport is invaluable and should certainly be an inspiration to other people who are thinking of getting involved."