THREE local men have recently completed a 330 mile bike ride from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean coast in France in under five days.

The ride was undertaken on mountain bikes and mostly through the beautiful canals which link the west of France to the south and they were able to raise over £1,500 to buy bags and luggage for the county's looked after children.

"We are all amazed at the generosity shown by those people who have donated to the fund raising effort", says Andrew Tanner. "The ride was tough going at times as some of the canal paths were pretty narrow and we had set ourselves a fairly tough schedule timewise. It was made worse by setting off for 11 miles in the wrong direction when we first encountered the Canal de Gironnes on the second day.

"We can see the funny side of it now but not necessarily at the time" he added.

Martin Carter, formerly landlord at the Crown and Anchor in Lugwardine, and Nathan Dimbylow of Splitlath Construction, completed the intrepid trio. Nathan is no stranger to raising money for charity and recently ran the London Marathon dressed as Mr Blobby.

Debbie Barnett, Herefordshire Council's participation and mentoring officer, had this to say about the fundraising effort:

"The Children in Care Council is overwhelmed by Andrew, Martin and Nathan's fundraising event for a cause so close to their hearts. Herefordshire is committed to ensuring its children and young people move placements safely and with minimum disruption to their lives, so these new bags will make this a lot easier. A member of our Children in Care Council told me 'we want all young people to have the choice of a bag, one they can keep for themselves and explore the world with' and that 'Andrew has inspired us to do a big fundraiser'. We can't thank the intrepid trio enough for everything they've done."