A keen cyclist from Penn has raised thousands of pounds for charity with a gruelling 24 hour cycle ride to Paris.

Jonathon McKay, 59, along with his friend David Cuff, set off for Paris on Monday at 2pm and smashed their 24 hour target, arriving on Tuesday afternoon.

The cyclists originally set out to raise £7,500, but increased after beating the target by thousands of pounds.

The pair have now raised more than £16,000 for the children’s charity, NSPCC, a cause close to their hearts.

Family and friends waved off Jonathon and David as they set off from outside JJ’s Delicatessen on Monday, before the pair rode to Newhaven in Sussex to catch the ferry across the Channel.

After catching up on some rest on the ferry, they continued on their ride from 4am, through rural northern France before arriving in Paris.

Jonathon, who is the chairman of London-based company, JustGiving, and David, managed to get all the way to Paris without any assistance or back up from other people.

He said: “It was just the two of who did it; we had no help and no one to carry supplies for us. We managed to get there without any machinery issues, which is great.

“We had a huge amount of support from family and friends before we left and from people along the way, which really helped us keep going.”

The dedicated fundraiser, who is married to the chair of the NSPCC’s Penn and Tyler’s Green fundraising group, told how the hardest part of the gruelling journey came as they got close to Paris.

He said: “It was very hard. We had a strong head wind, so it was like cycling into a hairdryer. The most challenging part was the last 50 miles in France.

“The temperature had got up to the high thirties in Paris and we were cycling through traffic and suburban areas, so it was difficult. It was like being in a desert.”  

Fiona Turner, fundraising manager at the NSPCC, thanked Jonathon and David for their amazing achievement, saying: “This amount of money will make an incredible difference to the lives of children and young people who are victims of abuse and neglect, and who we work with during their recovery from their abuse.”