A team of Wharfedale Rugby Club supporters have got back on their bikes to raise money for charity.

Last year a team of six, led by Robert Fort of Burnsall, cycled 200 miles from Cambridge to Threshfield and raised £5,000 for the Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association.

This time, Robert has persuaded a new team to tackle the slightly more strenuous 260 miles from Richmond RUFC in London to Wharfedale in time for Saturday’s match between the two clubs.

The team comprises fellow Wharfedale supporters Tim Lockett, Nick Gains and Ian Moulding, former Hebden hotelier John Younger and his friend Jennie Routley from Littondale and Bruce White, a former Sheffield RUFC full back.

The money raised will be donated to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, Wharfedale’s charity partner for the season.

They were due to drive down to Richmond yesterday and set out almost immediately, cycling as far as St Albans 20 miles away. Today, they will ride to Grantham (100 miles) and tomorrow to Wetherby (another 100 miles).

On Saturday, they will have a “leisurely” 45-mile ride to Threshfield.

“We are hoping that Peter Procter, Appletreewick’s former national cycling champion from 1951, will again lead us down the Avenue but Peter is now 83 and has a bad back so is not sure he will be fit enough,” he said.

To donate, visit justgiving.com/Robert-Fort