A WORCESTER couple drove 3,000 miles across Europe in a classic Mini Cooper as part of the 'adventure of a lifetime.'

Paul and Kerry Steel, of Barbourne, have recently returned from an exciting trip, which was an event called 'The Italian Job'.

They drove from Worcester to Italy and back again, in their 1980 1275 GT Mini Cooper.

Mr Steel said: "I have known about the Italian job charity tour for a while, being a fan of the classic Mini and classic cars in general, it was on the bucket list for me and my wife Kerry. 

"In total we travelled just over 3,000 miles, from the U.K. through France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Italy, and back through France to the UK. 

"It was intense, the driving was hard, but we went to some amazing places, met amazing people, made new friends, and most importantly we raised some money for a great cause."

The couple left Worcester to drive to Calais on Thursday, October 5, then drove to Nürburgring in Germany, before stopping in Munich and arriving in Imola (Italy) on October 8.

The competition side of the event requires cars to arrive at their destination at a set time, following a directional book and incurring penalty points for every second they arrive either early or late.

The couple ran into a couple of problems along the way but said they did not let that stop them.

Mr Steel said: "We spent a few days navigating to destinations around the Tuscan countryside and hill towns, picking up penalty points as we went, at one point we got completely lost and came in very late.

"Someone reversed into our car too which didn’t help, only causing cosmetic damage. We only had one problem with the car, it cut out on our journey through Germany on the way to Italy, but I was able to fix it at the side of the road, a wiring issue."

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The return journey drive from Turin over the Alps to Dijon, a journey that took them around 10 hours

The trip was originally meant for 2022, but due to some COVID restrictions in Europe, the event was postponed until this year.

All the money raised by the couple is going to Buttle UK, a charity dedicated to helping children and young people in crisis in the UK.

To donate to the fundraiser, visit https://tinyurl.com/36sh2dee.