A 12-day cycling challenge has raised thousands of pounds for charity.

The challenge was co-ordinated by father and son Lindsay and Will Holdoway, and sponsored by Lindsay’s company HPH Commercial Property, which owns properties in Chippenham including Bewley House.

The pair, accompanied by nine others, clocked up a distance of 1,322km from the source of the river in the Black Forest, Germany, to Budapest, passing through Austria and Slovakia, and have topped their fundraising target on the way.

The team has so far raised more than £20,000, which will be split between Dorothy House Hospice Care and Macmillan Cancer Support.

The challenge held a special resonance for the older Mr Holdoway, who lost both of his parents to cancer. He said: “I would like to say thank you to the sponsors for their generosity, and to everyone who has pledged money to help us reach our £20,000 target.

“The support we have received has been fantastic and each day we could see we were getting nearer to our target and hearing the news that we had reached £20,000 was a massive boost for us as we started the last few miles into Budapest. It was only when we came back that we realised how many people had been following the blog.”

Son Will said: “It feels absolutely fantastic to have completed the challenge, and more importantly to have raised over £10,000 for each charity.

"There were parts of the route that were hard going and there were times when it was pretty tough and then you had to prepare yourself to do it all again the next day, but I’m really pleased to be able to say we completed the challenge.”

For more information on the Danube 2012 challenge and to donate online visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/giving/