A GROUP of biking vicars have set off on the trip of a lifetime from North Yorkshire to the cradle of Christianity.

The 725 mile pilgrimage will take the clergy from Leyburn to the Island of Iona, off the West Coast of Scotland, where St Columba landed in 563 AD bringing the gospels and the Christian faith to Scotland and the north of England.

The vicars are members of the West Yorkshire and the Dales Motor Cycle Club, a new group formed by clergy and lay motorbike enthusiasts when the new diocese was formed last year.

The ten riders and four pillion passengers set off from St Matthews Church in Leyburn this morning (Monday April 20) and expect the trip to take five days.

Vicar of St Matthew’s Church, Revd Canon Michael Hepper said: “This is very different kind of retreat to any I’ve experienced before.

“I will be riding an Indian-built Royal Enfield single-cylinder Bullet made for the India Army and flying the flag for Wensley Deanery.

"Since this will be virtually the bike's maiden voyage I hope I won’t spend the trip stranded on the roadside.

“We will be riding as a group so it will be a good exercise in caring for one another along the way. It should be both a spiritual experience and an adventure but we will probably all need a holiday afterwards to recover."

The group is travelling through the Kielder Forest, Edinburgh and the spectacular scenery of the Trossachs, Glencoe and Mull before spending the day on Iona.

The other motorcycling vicars are the Revd Canon Stephen Kelly, Priest in Charge of Woolley with West Bretton; the Revd Canon Paul Tudge, Vicar of Farsley near Pudsey, and the Revd Vic Iwanuschak, Incumbent of All Saints Pontefract.