Three brothers cycled from coast to coast to raise money for a charity supporting sufferers of a cancer that killed their mother.

Martyn, Graham and Calvin Routledge, aged 40, 42 and 44, completed the gruelling Whitehaven to Sunderland ride, crossing the Lake District and Pennines and raising more than £1,000 for bone marrow cancer charity Myeloma UK.

The ride follows the death of the brothers’ mother Catherine from the cancer two years ago.

They, along with cousins Terry Woodhouse and John Marshall and friends Stephen Jaworski, Ian Maudsley and Pete Shephard, had some moving moments on their way.

Martyn Routledge, of Malvern Gardens in Loughton, said: “We made quite an impact on our journey, being stopped by a farmer who handed over £10 and explained his wife had just died of cancer.

“It was tough going over the Pennines. We had a support car, and we really needed that.

“Everyone enjoyed a few pints when we reached the sun-kissed beaches of Sunderland.”

He said his wife Debra and daughter Ruby, seven, a pupil at Buckhurst Hill Primary School, had helped raise funds.

Donations can still be made by visiting www.bikecoast2coast.co.uk.