ENERGETIC pensioner Frank Jefferson notched up hundreds of miles as well as a birthday as he pedalled his way across Europe.

Frank, of Ainsworth Road, Bury, saw in his 68th birthday at Calais on a charity route from "Rome to the Dome".

The former bicycle engineer spent 14 days travelling 1,400 miles from the Italian capital over the Alps and through France to London.

His gruelling solo effort raised around £800 for the children's cancer charity Leukaemia Busters. Frank, who is pictured with his bike, decided to go it alone after missing out on an organised trip along the same route.

He said: "I decided I could fund the expenses myself and all the sponsorship we got went to the charity. It had always been a lifetime ambition of mine to fly out somewhere and then ride all the way back, so it appealed to me."

The most difficult parts of Frank's journey were the Italian heat, negotiating some of the steep hills in the Alps and the roadworks and traffic on the way into London!

"It was so hot at first that I was almost melting away and some of the hills were almost vertical," said Frank.

While Frank has cycled in America, Canada and Ireland, this was his longest continental trip.

Despite his age, Frank has no plans to put the brakes on his cycling career and hopes to ride again in the United States