PEDALLING pals Esther Amery and Leigh-anne crossley are more than three weeks into their South East Asia charity bike ride.

The pair have covered all 1,071km of northern Thailand meeting lovely and supportive people.

So far the girls have faced gruelling challenges such as cycling up mountains and the much easier task of coasting down the other side as well as trying to stay on their bikes while battling along a dirty and bumpy road in Laos.

Esther, from Newton Abbot, and Leigh-anne have also made a good impression on local children with one of them wanting to join the adventure.

The friends, who decided to raise money for the mental health charity Mind, have already passed their target of £1,000.

After reaching their goal so early into the challenge they decided to up their target to £2,000.

People have taken to the Just Giving page and left some supportive comments for the girls like ‘Fantastic challenge, good luck to you both and keep the photos and updates coming, love tracking your journey.’

Another donor left a message for the cyclists on the website saying: ‘Keep pedalling, good luck and well done. Such an amazing achievement.’