WATCH: Beach buggies well on way in 57 piers charity challenge

From Aberystwyth to Bangor and Llandudno to Blackpool - Two beach buggies are a third of their way on a challenge which started in the Black Country to visit 57 piers.

The 10-day challenge is to raise money for cancer charities, including Breast Cancer Research Group at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley.

Sandwell Council employee Simon Chadwick and friend George Meakin left Sandwell Council in Oldbury on Thursday.

They have since travelled up the Welsh coast and to Scotland, where they visited Edinburgh and the Isle of Bute over the weekend.

Yesterday they were travelling to Skegness.

The buggies are admired as they line up on Pier 8 at Blackpool during their charity challenge

Mr Chadwick, a beach buggy fanatic, whose son Alex joined him on the trip, is behind the idea.

He came up with it after wife Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer and treated at Russells Hall hospital in Dudley.

Mr Chadwick said: "In Britain there are 58 pleasure piers remaining of which we are visiting 57 on the Pier Pressure Challenge.

"Number 58 is on the Isle of Man and has been closed to the public for a good number of years."

Along with Mr Meakin, Mr Chadwick is collecting along the way for Breast Cancer Care and Cancer Research UK, the Georgina Oncology unit and Breast Cancer Research Group at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley.

Yesterday, Mr Chadwick posted on a Facebook group designated to the scheme that the team had passed the 700-mile mark. He said they had 1,700 to go.

The trip will see Mr Chadwick and his crew use

six ferries and cross several iconic bridges, including the Menai, Forth, Humber, Severn, QEII and Clifton Suspension Bridge.

They also travel through the Mersey Tunnel, pass by Snowdon and visit Edinburgh Castle.

People setting off from Oldbury on the charity challenge

Mr Chadwick's sister Louise Griffiths, who works for Wolverhampton Council, said: "They are tired, but enjoying the trip – I know they want to thank everyone for their support so far.

"They have raised thousands, but hope to raise more along the way."

It is not the first time Mr Chadwick has travelled afar in a beach buggy, making it as far as the Nurburgring in Germany.

He has also made a number of TV appearances on shows such as For the Love of Cars and Kingdom with Stephen Fry.

His enthusiasm for buggies started when he built his first buggy in 1992.

Six years later, along with four others, he began the Midland Buggy Club. The club is still going strong and is the oldest surviving buggy club in the UK.

To donate, visit www.pierpressure2016.co.uk