Baslow resident David Cook hopes to raise £10,000 for British paralympians, road safety charity Brake and the Kankudibi health clinic in The Gambia, founded by Stanton Lees couple Geoffrey and Julie Henson.

The 19-year-old left last Thursday on the once-in-a-lifetime trip, which will take him six months.

He will be joined on two legs of the journey by friends Matthew Gibson (18), from Hathersage, and Luke Johnson (19) from Baslow.

Former Lady Manners School pupil David said: "We all feel very passionate about these charities.

"Geoff and Julie Henson have worked tremendously hard to provide the clinic and deserve all the support they can get.

"We chose to help Brake because two of our school-friends were killed in road accidents and we felt we should support the British paralympians after seeing them in action and discovering that Government support for the team had been cut by 60 per cent," he added.

Matthew, a former student at Hope Valley College and Lady Manners School, will ride from Calais to Athens.

Luke, who studied at Saint Mary's School in Chesterfield, will cycle the Turkey to Paris leg of the tour.

The young men will ride £1,500 bicycles - purpose built to carry camping gear and solar panels to power phones and a global positioning system.

They have been planning the trip since 2008.