SOPHISTICATED fire engines will be swapped for humble bicycles when firefighters cycle the length of France for charity.

Fifteen fundraisers are setting off from Calais today for a five-day journey to Monte Carlo.

The men, all based at Peterlee fire station, then have one day to sample the sights of the French Riviera before returning to work.

The gruelling 1,000-mile race is to raise money for the station's dedicated charity, the NSPCC, with about 20 per cent of the money going to the Fire Service Benevolent Fund.

It will round off a year of fundraising at the station, which has already raised about £15,000 for their charities.

Big Brother contestant Jonny Regan was on the station's fundraising committee before he left to pursue his media career.

Most of the bicycles in the race have been donated by businesses and will be raffled off at the end of the race.

Two of the bikes, worth about £900 each, were donated by Discount Autoparts and Cestria Insurance, both in Chester-le-Street.

They were handed over on Saturday to firefighter Alan Renshaw, who lives in Chester-le-Street.

He said: "We need pretty good bikes to be able to cope with eight or nine hours a day, every day, for five or six days. We are hoping to cover between 100 and 250 miles a day."

Others to help the fundraising bid are Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Brigade, Strawberry and Giant cycles, Asda in Peterlee, the Great Outdoors, in Sunderland, and Euro Tunnel.