FOUR riders who completed a sponsored trek from Lifton to London were delighted by the response they had both from those who sponsored them and those who generously put them and their horses up along the 250-mile route.
Michael Bickell, who is chairman of the Lamerton Hunt, along with Deborah and Harriette Kivell and Amanda Denny, spent nine days in June riding from Michael's house in Lifton and on to Okehampton, Exeter, Honiton, Shaftesbury, Salisbury, Winchester, Kingston and Richmond, before being escorted by Metropolitan mounted police through the capital, where they met West Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox at the Houses of Parliament.
Their efforts have raised a bumper £11,500 which will be split between SSAFA (Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association) and Help for Heroes, which provides support for wounded servicemen and women.
Last week the four, along with Heather Parr who drove the back-up van en route, presented the cheque to Robert Tailour, of SSAFA, and Caroline Day of Help for Heroes at the Cornwall Countryman's Fayre held at Werrington Park, Launceston.
This is the 12th annual sponsored ride organised by Mr Bickell, who has helped raise tens of thousands of pounds for charities such as Devon Air Ambulance and the Children's Hospice South West.
He said: 'We would like to thank everybody who supported us, especially the sponsors and those who generously put us up throughout, when we had to stop for the benefit of the horses.
'We were fortunate that we hardly had any rain and we rode through some marvellous countryside.
'One of the highlights was going through the old ox droves in Wiltshire, where farmers of old used to drive their animals from summer to winter pastures.
'Riding thorough London, going along Horse Guards Parade and past Buckingham Palace was a great experience.'