Tom Booth, 28, and friend Ben Peacock, 27, spent three months completing the three-part Tomben Challenge, which saw them cycle from Land's End to John O'Groats in June, during challenge one.

Challenge two began at the end of June and saw the pair flying from the Shetlands to Bergen and cycling through Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, ending in Amsterdam at the end of July.

Challenge three took them to Belgium, France and Spain, finishing at the end of August.

In total, the duo raised more than £2,500 for Cancer Research UK, the world's leading independent organisation dedicated to cancer research.

Tom, who was brought up in Banchory and formerly attended Banchory Primary and Robert Gordon's in Aberdeen, was keen to raise money for the charity as his aunt, Joanne Smith, 41, of Bedford, has been suffering from cancer for the last seven years.

"Myself and Ben wanted to ride from Land's End to John O'Groats but we thought we could go further than that and got quite carried away!" said Tom, who also enjoys rock-climbing, scuba diving, mountain biking and snowboarding. "We thought we'd leave our jobs for a while and figured we had three months so where could we go?

"I've actually got two members of the family - one of which is recovering - affected by cancer so Cancer Research UK seemed like a good charity to ride for. We both knew people outwith the family who had also been affected by cancer.

"The high points of the ride were when we got to the top of the mountains - the low points were getting to the tops of the mountains!

"Norway was amazing and the coastline in Sweden was fantastic. The people in Sweden were very friendly. The difficult part was the heat in France and we were also cycling into the wind for 1,500 miles from Belgium to Spain. Ticks, mosquitoes and earwigs all bothered us and we got bitten a few times."

The pair, who both live in Glasgow, met whilst working at a tapas bar where Tom was manager and Ben was a barman. Whilst in Banchory, Tom worked in his spare time at the Banchory Lodge and Tor-na-Coille hotels.

Miraculously, during their mammoth ride, neither cyclist suffered a puncture, although Tom had a gear system breakage in Norway which cost them a day-and-a-half in time and £100 to repair.

The pair, who are keen social cyclists but not members of any club, carried almost 50kgs of kit (including bike) with them during their trip and camped each night.

They had to try to eat 6,000 calories of food each day to ensure their bodies were working efficiently, which, according to Tom, involved eating a lot of cheese.

"I'd do a long bike journey again if we had more money, as we lived on very little money, eating baguettes and tins of tuna," he said. "There were no luxuries.

"We enjoyed the experience and I feel I achieved something and am very glad I did it."

Tom is currently back in Aberdeen hoping to begin work in the offshore oil industry.