By SARAH HARKER

CHARITY champion Eric Jolley is set to face his biggest challenge yet getting back in the saddle for a 1,879-mile cycle ride across Australia.

Eric, aged 54, from Park Road in Orford, will begin the gruelling expedition in May and he aims to complete it in just a month, cycling 70 miles a day to raise money for the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust.

An experienced cyclist and avid charity supporter, Eric is no stranger to life on the road, having already pedalled his way across the UK and Mexico.

Eric has been on the Anthony Nolan register for more than 20 years and since the age limit for bone marrow donation is 60, he wanted to do something special for the charity.

He said: "I'm going to be 55 later this year and was under the impression that that was the age limit. I later discovered it was 60, but I wanted to do something anyway as a kind of swan song.

"Last year I thought I was going to be a donor and went for all the blood samples and tissue type tests but I wasn't suitable, so I wanted to do something to help in another way.

"Although I have done other long distance cycling challenges I think this is going to be the toughest one yet. The climate changes in particular are going to be strange."

Eric and his cycling companion Derek Hastings, from Essex, will stay overnight in a camper van they have hired, driven by a volunteer driver who will meet them every 70 miles along the route.

The trip has been financed through sponsorship from friends, family and work colleagues.

Eric, who works as an engineering technician at Guinness Packaging in Runcorn, added: "Work have been really supportive of the expedition and one of my mates has set up a website advertising the charity ride."

So far the site has attracted international interest from people wanting to support the expedition.

Eric said: "We're going to have to do 70 miles a day for 28 days. It will be gruelling, but I know I can do it.

"I've cycled about 200 miles a week for the past 40 years, but it will be as much a mental challenge as a physical one."