SIX soldiers from Catterick Garrison have embarked on a 700 mile memorial charity bike ride to visit the graves of 13 of their fallen comrades.

Soldiers from the Queen’s Royal Lancers cycle team set off from Cambrai Lines on Monday and hope to raise £10,000 for the ABF – The Soldiers’ Charity.

Cheered from the start by the entire regiment, and representatives from the ABF, the team were in high spirits at the start line.

Starting at the regiment’s memorial to the fallen at their barracks in Catterick Garrison the first leg will see the team visit graves in Scunthorpe and Grimsby, before heading to Worksop, Nottingham and Stoke on Trent on day two.

Day three will include Stafford, Birmingham and Newport, and day four will see them ride into Devon, before the final day where they will visit Wimbourne and complete the final leg to the tank museum in Bovington.

Organiser WO2 Leon Reeve, 36, said the driving force behind the ride had been a desire to visit 13 graveyards on the route of members of the regiment who had been killed in action or had died training for operations.

“We very much wanted to honour the sacrifices made by our fallen comrades and will pay our respects to each individual grave,” he said.

The rest of the team consists of WO2 Kevin Hough, 35; Sergeant Stewart Gardiner, 38; Sgt Brian Lansberry, 34; Corporal Liam Gowen, 26; and Cpl Mark Brewer, 28.

The team has raised almost £6,500 and hope to reach £10,000 before finishing on Friday, March 27. To follow the teams progress on twitter follow #QRLCycle or donate www.justgiving.com/Leon-Reeve.