A PAIR of teachers from Malvern are taking on a gruelling cycling challenge to ride from one end of the country to the other.

Jacqui Ferrett, who teaches at St Joseph's Primary in Malvern and Jenny Davies, who teaches at John Masefield in Ledbury, are travelling to Cornwall later this month to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats and are hoping to raise £1,500 for their chosen charity.

The pair will journey down to Cornwall on July 23 to prepare for the 16-day ride, which is more than 1,000 miles and will see them climb 46,500ft in total.

Neither of the women have attempted a challenge like this before, and they are hoping to raise £1 for every mile they will cycle.

Mrs Davies said: “This will be both a demanding and rewarding undertaking for two Sunday cyclists.

"Our cycling adventure will be totally self-funded with all money raised going directly to The CLD Trust, a charity that supports young people at difficult times in their lives.

“We are leaving Cornwall on July 23 and hoping to be passing through Barnard’s Green by the 28th so it would be great to see people coming out to support us as we come through again.

“We are hoping to get some friends to cycle some of the stages with us to give us some support too.

“Coming through Malvern will probably be one of the hardest stages for us for sentimental reasons, but we are both really excited.”

Mrs Davies, 57 and Mrs Ferrett, 50, both live in Malvern and used the Malvern Mad Hatter 100 mile cycling event on June 2 to prepare for the ride.

The Mad Hatter ride begins at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern and cycles around Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, including winding country lanes and hill climbs.

Starting south of Great Malvern and riding an anti-clockwise circle around the town before passing through Rhydd, Powick and Alfrick, touching the outskirts of Worcester before stopping for the first feed stop.

For more about the pair's fund raising efforts, go to: wonderful.org/fundraiser/thelongone-c95dc644