A pair of intrepid moped riders from Conwy County are setting off on a trans-European ride this week in aid of our hospices.

On Sunday 5^th February, Ashley Carr and his friend Jonny Collins will be mounting 125cc scooters and setting off on their 1,700 mile Morfa to Malaga challenge in aid of Hope House and Tŷ Gobaith.

Europe's highest road

Above: Ashley Carr and Jonny Collins will be setting off at 10am on Sunday 5th February from Morfa Beach car park

From Conwy Morfa the pair, who often go touring together on larger BMW bikes, will ride through Wales and England to Portsmouth where they will board a ferry to St Malo in France and head South to Andorra and into Spain and up the Pico Veleta, Europe’s highest road before arriving in Malaga.

Of the challenge, an enthusiastic Ashley of Deganwy said: “We’re setting off in February because it is traditionally the worst month for weather and it’ll push us really hard mentally and physically.

“We’ve been modifying our scooters but they’re a bit unreliable – especially in the cold and temperatures could get down to -20c up in the Pyrenees.

“We’ve been in bad situations before and there’s always a way out.

“Where there’s a problem there’s a solution - even if I have to jump on the back of Jonny’s.”

Gas engineer Ashley, 32 continued: “I think we can do the challenge in about 19 days and we’ll be sleeping in hostels along the way and carrying all our own spare fuel and tools.

“It’s such a great worthwhile cause which supports so many local families that any suffering along the way will be well worth it.

“It should be a good laugh.”

DIY repairs

Above: Jonny Collins and Ashley Carr give it the thumbs up with their modified 125cc scooters at Conwy Marina

Ashley’s riding buddy Jonny, of Dwygyfylchi is also looking forward to the adventure and said: “We decided on Malaga as my brother has an apartment there where we can leave our bikes before our flight home on the 24^th.

“Later in the year we are thinking about flying back to Malaga, collecting the bikes and setting off from there down to Morocco and potentially as far as Senegal.

“We bought our scooters for £250 and have been repairing them ourselves.

“We’d really love it if people got behind us and donated anything they can spare to the hospices and we’ll be posting on YouTube as we go for our supporters to follow.”

The pair will be setting off at 10am on Sunday 5th February from the car park at Morfa Beach, Conwy near Langley’s Spa and Signatures restaurant.

Donations can be made via their Just Giving page at here and you can also follow their crazy adventure on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@budgetscooterchallenge

Good luck lads.