BRAVE veterans, including a Basildon man who suffers from fibromyalgia, powered to the finish line in a gruelling 1,400 mile bike ride for charity.

Naval veteran Lee Patmore, 41, from Felmores, Basildon, joined Former Royal Engineer Steve Craddock and retired Royal Marine Brian Kilgannon on the challenge of a lifetime last month.

The trio cycled from John O’Groats, in Scotland, to Land’s End, in Cornwall, to raise cash for the military charity Help for Heroes and support their wounded comrades.

The challenge was especially difficult for Mr Patmore who is constantly in extreme pain and suffers acute tiredness.

Using a Topend Force RX hand-cycle, the ex-St Nicholas School pupil and his companions arrived in Land’s End, on Monday May 29.

Mr Patmore said: “It was an amazing journey and it’s incredible that we finished it on time.

“I’m extremely proud to have done it, and raised the money for such a wonderful cause.

“The last day was the worst part of it all, we did a 5,000 ft climb on one day, a 4,000 ft climb the next, and a 3,000 ft climb on the final day.

“In the last day I just had nothing in my arms left, and I have constant pain in my arms anyway.

“The whole experience has cemented friendships, and we are talking about doing something else next year, and hopefully doing something annually.”

At the time of writing, the 25-day challenge has raised more than £5,500 for the charity - but donations are still flooding in.

Instead of taking the usual 960 mile route, the three fundraisers set themselves the added challenge of visiting all four Help for Heroes Recovery Centres and military bases along the way.

The diversions added almost 500 miles to the route, including cycling up hills totalling 63,000ft in height - more than twice the height of Mount Everest.

Mr Patmore, a former Able Seaman, tackled the journey on a custom-made hand bike, using only his arms to power the bike.

He said: “All of the guys got something out of it.

“How did we do it? Well, that was down to stubbornness.”

To read more about the trio’s incredible journey, or to make a pledge, visit justgiving.com/fundraising/Ride2recoveryleesjourney