Blindness not an obstacle to cycling for Andrea Bocelli

Most of us are wary about cycling in the dark, no matter what the advances in the technology of cycle lights, but the prospect of riding on city streets in permanent pitch darkness would, to many people, sound like madness.

But that, effectively, is the situation that blind opera star Andrea Bocelli apparently handles with unruffled aplomb, at least if pictures of him cycling through the streets of a Tuscan town accompanied by his fiancée are anything to go by.

Having been born with congenital glaucoma, the 52-year-old Italian tenor lost his sight at the age of 12 after he suffered a brain haemorrhage while playing football.

Perhaps, having become blind in part due to a head injury, you might expect the singer to be a card-carrying helmet-wearer, but he is shown riding to the shops without one in pictures published in the Daily Mail.

A Royal National Institute for Blind People spokesman told the newspaper: “People are often quite surprised by the sport and leisure activities practised by the blind. For example, tandem cycling is very popular.

“These photos look a bit more risky and I haven’t heard of individuals cycling before. However, Mr Bocelli is being guided by his partner’s hand and it looks like they have done it before and know their limitations.”