Cyclists' epic capital-to-capital ride raises £4,500

GRATEFUL grandad and his best biking buddy have raised more than £4,570 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity after cycling from Paris to London.

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Sixty-year-old Paul Wallbank, from Walsall, saddled up with his friend Vinny Safe, 58, from Tipton, to ride the 248 miles to thank Birmingham Children's Hospital for the care his 15-year-old grandson has received there for most of his life.

AJ was three when he was diagnosed with a progressive condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which causes damage to the peripheral nerves found outside the central nervous system, which among other symptoms can cause muscle wasting and weakness.

To begin with, AJ's condition only affected his eyes but over time it has progressed to affect his legs and feet, and now his hands.