A cycling couple from Haytor who set off an a gruelling 5,000km bike ride across Europe six months ago have returned with more than £6,000.

Iain Ashton and his wife Donna cycled through ten different countries raising money for the charity Chicks, which provides free respite care for disadvantaged children and has helped more than 12,000 since 1992.

The pair, who have admitted to having no real experience of cycling, started their epic challenge on April 3 from Roscoff, and ended the trek when they reached the Black Sea.

Before they set of, Mrs Ashton said: ‘Call us mad, but we haven’t actually done much cycling.

‘We agreed that if we are going to cycle 5,000km we could train as we go and I’m pretty certain we will get the hang of it.’

On their return, Mrs Ashton described the whole event as absolutely amazing, but admitted it really was hard work.

They did have their ups and downs along the way, Mrs Ashton even managing to upset a resident when cycling through a vineyard who chased her in his car when he dramatically swerved out the way, putting his wheel into a ditch.

And the couple never cycled so fast as they did when being chased by a three-legged dog.

The most shocking thing that they encountered was the unexpected influx of refugees to Budapest in June, long before it became an international story.

Fortunately for the duo they managed to avoid getting a puncture for the whole time they were away.

Mrs Ashton, who is a Nordic walker, decided to set herself another goal of treating residents to a walk in each country she visited.

Meanwhile, back home, the walking club members decided they would still pay their fees to take part despite Mrs Ashton being away, but the money did not go into the club, it was donated to the charity Mind.