Musician ’emotional’ after arriving at Glastonbury following 650-mile bike ride

A musician who is playing at Glastonbury Festival has described how “emotional” it was to arrive at the music event following a more than 650-mile bike ride that started in Scotland.

Jack Cullen, who lives in north-west London, embarked on the cycling trip from Edinburgh to the famous festival with his childhood friend George “GK” Kershaw, 33, on May 30.

He told the PA news agency: “It feels amazing and somewhat emotional in a way.

British singer-songwriter Jack Cullen arrives on a bike at Glastonbury Festival (Yui Mok/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Yui Mok

“I think these things are always, you forget what you’re doing during it, and then you realise ‘Oh, we’ve just been doing this for the last month, and now we’re here’.

“And it’s kind of as simple as that. So it feels, overall, it just feels really, really, really good.”

Cullen, 30, said the pair have faced “horrendous wind and rain” in the past month but joked that his Birkenstocks have held up.

Along the route, which took him through areas including the Lake District, Manchester and Liverpool, he performed in quirky venues, including a sauna, and also held an intimate gig for one of his most loyal fans.

He told PA: “We went over to Liverpool, played a little gig, to one fan in particular actually, who always comes to my shows, drives down from Liverpool to London.

“So I cycled four hours to go meet him and play him some of the new tunes face to face. So that was a really, really special one.”

While in the Lake District he shot a music video for his new single with RCA Records, All I Need, and said he almost lost a drone and had to hike up a mountain “for a few hours” to retrieve it.

Jack Cullen will perform on the Wishing Well stage on Sunday (Yui Mok/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Yui Mok

Cullen’s friend did not have a ticket for the festival when they set off, but the singer-songwriter says he has now gained entry with the stipulation he must “do a few bits of work”.

Before he embarked on a career in music, Cullen was a professional rugby player and represented Ireland in the U20 World Cup and Six Nations.

In 2016, a series of injuries, such as damaging his shoulder and tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, left him bedbound, which is when he picked up his guitar and began writing music.

Over time, Cullen began playing his music across the UK and built a fanbase, culminating in more than 20,000 followers on TikTok.

He is scheduled to perform at Glastonbury Festival on June 29 at 2.50pm on the Wishing Well stage.