A FATHER-and-son cycling duo from Worcester are putting their feet up after peddling the length of Britain - in less than three weeks.

Forty-two-year old John Smith, and his father Alan, aged 66, of Ribston Close off Hallow Road have now arrived back into the city after their epic three-week challenge cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats.

The keen cyclists decided to tackle the near 900-mile distance as it considered one of the ultimate challenges for bikers and managed to complete it in 19 days.

In doing so they hope to have raised nearly £1,000 collectively for Cancer Research, Diabetes UK and the British Heart Foundation - they chose the latter because John, of McIntyre Road, St John's, suffers from a heart condition.

John said: "It's great to be back but when you go away for several weeks and come back the there's a lot of chaos and mail to be opened.

"It's very hard to sum up three weeks of cycling in a few sentences but there were highs and lows and we were mostly fine with the weather."

The duo prepared for the journey with a 40-mile cycle-ride to Shropshire some weeks before and they set off from Land's End on Sunday, April 23, arriving in John O' Groats on Friday, May 12.

From there, they journeyed to the nearest train station at Thurso, where they caught a train back to the Faithful City on Saturday, May 13.

During their time in the saddle they crossed the length of Wales in a speedy two days and occasionally had to fight against strong head winds as they reached Scotland.

However, John said there were no mechanical problems and generally everything was plain cycling otherwise.

He added: "If you're a cyclist the 'end to end' is just one of those things you have to do before you die and we've done it now so it feels good."