BOOK binder Phil Bell has returned home to a hero's welcome in York after cycling around England for charity.

Phil, of Westfield Place, Acomb, pedalled about 2,200 miles in three weeks, riding his 20-year-old bike.

He said his route took in the Humber Bridge, Boston, Norwich, Ipswich, Chelmsford, Dover, Hastings, Southampton, Exeter, Lands End, Bristol, Shrewsbury, Carlisle and Newcastle before returning to York.

A keen cyclist, he had been on long rides before, but this was the longest yet.

"I've been preparing for it for three years," he said.

He completed the trip relatively unscathed - "apart from a big blister on my backside!"

Speaking before meeting colleagues and sponsors at the Ainsty pub in Boroughbridge Road, Phil, 49, said he sometimes cycled to and from work at printing firm RR Donnelley at Flaxby Moor, near Knaresborough.

Phil said he had organised the ride to raise funds for the Diabetes Society.

"This is the first time I have a big bike ride like this - I have done rides of a few hundred before but nothing like this and although I enjoyed it I don't think I'd do it again though."

"With it being so warm I'd been drinking loads of fluids so I was glad to get home for a toilet stop and a few home comforts."

Updated: 10:24 Monday, July 18, 2005