CHARITY CYCLISTS READY TO MOUNT UP FOR PALMA

By Humphrey Carter BROTHERS Paul and Peter Ayres have less than 48 hours to relax before they set off on their 1.000 mile charity cycle from Bristol to Palma. The duo is cycling to Palma in honour of their late father Peter Ayres senior who spent much of his life in Majorca and where Paul grew up. Peter Ayres senior suddenly passed away in April while waiting to board a flight at Bristol airport to his “spiritual home” here on the island. His sons decided to complete his final journey to the island in aid of his two chosen charities, the Nazareth Orphanage here in Palma and the Variety Club in the UK. The two will set off from Bristol airport on Saturday morning “our plan is to start cycling at 9.30 and we're going to have a quick Tour de France-style time trial. “The general idea is that we grind out the first 30 miles as quickly as possible so we can eventually get to Portsmouth to catch the afternoon ferry to Caen,” said Paul yesterday. “We want to be in France and cycling by 6am on Sunday,” he explained. “Then it's just a matter of covering the remaining 836 miles in ten days,” he added. They will be camping en route, not staying in the hotels and at the vineyards their father did when he tootled down to Spain in his Jaguar. They had initially hoped to have arrived here in time for the World Cup final. Via the web site, 1.000 euros have already been raised from local residents on the island responding to the article in the Bulletin ten days ago and the target is to raise £20'000 which will be split between the two charities. EasyJet, the airline with which their father was due to fly from Bristol to Palma, is the main sponsor and ITV is also following the cyclists' adventure as will the Bulletin. www.dadslastjourney.com