TWO East Lancashire men are set to retrace the steps of Che Guevara in an eight-week motorcycle adventure through five South American countries.

Pete Sandford, 51, and Steve Holmes, 49, have kitted themselves out with a pair of 1940s Norton 500cc motorbikes, the exact same model used by the revolutionary.

The 7,500-mile trip begins in Buenos Aires in Argentina and follows the path of Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado in 1952, a journey which was later featured in the movie The Motorcycle Diaries.

Steve, a HGV driver who lives in Blackburn, said they would have no back-up when they completed the trip in January.

They are to video their progress and update supporters back in Lancashire via an internet blog.

He said: “We’ll be trying to stay faithful to the route that Che and Alberto followed and seeing what’s changed since 1952.

“Both Che and Alberto had their diaries of the trip published so there’s quite as lot of information available.

“We’ve managed to find two Norton Model 18 bikes, exactly like the one used by Che and Alberto.”

The friends, who are both motorcycle enthusiasts, said they were completing the “trip of a lifetime” to help local charities and experience the same sights and sounds as the young revolutionary Guevara.

Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary. As a young medical student, Guevara travelled throughout Latin America and was transformed by the poverty he witnessed.

He decided that the only remedy to the issues was world revolution.

In December 1956, he was among the revolutionaries who invaded Cuba under Fidel Castro’s leadership to overthrow the dictator Fulgencio Batista.

He was captured in Bolivia in with the help of the CIA and executed in 1967 aged 39.

Pete, who was born in Clitheroe and is now based in Hayling Island near Portsmouth, said they would be taking time out to visit several charity projects on the way, helping orphaned and abandoned children who live on the streets.

Pete said: “This is a real shoestring expedition in the true spirit of Che’s trip.

"We’ll be camping wherever we can and staying with locals when we’re in big cities.”

Visit www.revolutionroad.com for more details.