EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Zak Hudson sets off today on a mammoth bike ride from York to the west coast of England in a bid to raise hundreds of pounds for charity.

Zak and his mum Kat Chandler, from the Lawrence Street area, have planned a four-day ride over hill and dale to Zak’s granny in Barrow-in-Furness.

They have already been sponsored to the tune of £210 for the charity DebRA, a national charity working on behalf of people with a rare genetic condition called Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).

They were inspired to help the charity following the death of a little boy from Zak’s school who suffered from the condition, which leads to the skin and internal body linings blistering at the slightest knock or rub.

Kat said that ever since Zak first learned to ride a “wobbly bike” without stabilisers at the age of three, he had loved cycling, and after getting a new bike last year started to hatch a plan to one day ride to his granny’s house for fun.

But shortly before the Easter holidays, one of the pupils at Zak’s school died from EB, and she and Zak then had the idea to take the opportunity of the ride to raise money for DebRA, which had been such a great support to the youngster and his family.

She said they were planning to pedal today to Boroughbridge, and then head tomorrow to Hawes, with a little light relief provided by a ride on the Wensleydale Light Railway.

On Friday, they will cycle to Kirkby Lonsdale, and then pedal on Saturday to Arnside, before taking a train across the bay to Ulverston and then cycling along the coast road to Barrow.

Zak, who attends Fishergate Primary School, said in a blog before the ride started: “I feel excited about going on our big ride. “I think we could do it in two or three days but mum thinks that’s a bit too much, so we have decided to do it in four days. I just can’t wait!”

The pair’s JustGiving page is at: http://www.justgiving.com/ZaksVeryBigBikeRide