Two friends cycled 195 miles from Worksop in Nottinghamshire to Ecclefechan in Dumfries and Galloway in aid of Dementia UK. 

Sheffield man Mark Gebbie raised £1,605 for Dementia UK. He did the ride with friend Glen Cutts and between the two of them they raised more than £2,000 for their individual charities.

The pair completed the cycle in far less time than they thought having originally planned to take three full days to complete the journey.

Mark, 53, said: “First it was tough. We had a bit of bad weather on day one but it got easier as the week went on.” 

Unfortunately, the men encountered a few problems during their cycle – road closures of up to five or six miles in North Yorkshire meant they had to divert their route, 

Mark said: “It is soul destroying as you have planned a journey and it alters.” 

During the cycle, Mark suffered with a knee and calf injury. He completed the first 65 miles with no painkillers – giving up was not an option.

The two men did the journey in two seven hour stints and a three hour stint. 

After day one, Mark said he felt as though he underachieved as they had just cycled 80 miles however by day two, when they arrived at Penrith, reality set in that they were only 45 miles away. 

Mark’s son accompanied them on the third day to cross the border together and finish the cycle. His daughter made a banner for them to see as they crossed the border. 

Mark said he also had an issue with his bike days before the cycle – a day before the cycle the repairman came and would not take any money for the repairs. 

Instead, he chose to donate his share of the repair costs to the charity.

The hotels the men stayed in even chipped in to help them by offering them an extra room free of charge to keep their bikes in or a secure stock room. 

Mark said: “It is nice to see that there are still a lot of kind people.”

Friends and well wishers travelled nearly 200 miles to greet the men at the Scottish border.