THEY did it! Three men of a certain age pedaled their way 850 miles through Spain and France in 40o C-plus heat, strong headwinds, mountains and high humidity.

It was an achievement that would have tested most younger folk, but Richard ‘Wallace’ Bartlett, 80, of Shaldon; Gil ‘Gromit’ Gill, 77, – who are both recovering from cancer and chemo treatment – and their ‘young minder’ Dave ‘Basmarti’ Rice, 62, both of Teignmouth achieved the charity ride from Bilbao to Roscoff in 22 days, four fewer than their estimate.

‘It was tough and we hit some troughs at times, but worthwhile. I would do something similar again, but not until I have recovered from this one. The two older guys were amazing,’ said Dave.

The three members of the Teign Valley Pedal Bashers rode ordinary bikes loaded with camping and other equipment, and came through without incident, apart from a nasty wound sustained by Richard, and not picked up by a hospital.

He is susceptible to low blood pressure and fell into a roadside ditch, sustaining a gash in his shin. A day or so later it was still not healing well, so had it checked out in an A & E department in the Dordogne.

They cleaned and dressed the wound, but two days later he felt something hard, and former nurse Dave pulled out a piece of stick about 2.25 inches long. Luckily, the antibiotics prevented it getting worse, and it is now healing.

The ride was to raise some money for three charities: Prostate Cancer UK; Muscular Dystrophy UK and the Ricky Grant Centre (Torbay Hospital’s chemotherapy unit). They flew to Bilbao with each bike in a large cardboard box about 5’ 6” long. The first part of the journey was along mountain roads, and the bikes proved very heavy and cumbersome with the panniers.

‘We started early in the morning when it was much cooler, and managed to cycle through to the coast and the French border without collapsing,’ added Gil.

The final day was spent relaxing in Roscoff, and scoffing down moules and frites – mussels and chips in a mustard and cream sauce, which they rated the best they had ever tasted.

They could at last relax after the marathon, which also included over 37,000 feet of climbing. During the trip they were given some back-up by three other pedal bashers, John and Janet Ceely and Dave Crooks.

Contributions to the charities can be made through Go Fund Me page at https:// www.gofundme.com/2-survivors-cycle-bilbao2roscoff