A GROUP of Royal Marines are to abseil down Avon Gorge, along with their bikes, for charity.

The 14 marines, from Portsmouth, are cycling from John O'Groats to Land's End, and will be doing a series of fundraising events along the way.

On June 9 they will arrive in Bristol for the night, and on the morning of June 10 they will make their way into Clifton to abseil down the Gorge.

One of the group, Captain John Hayward, says that people should be able to see their ambitious abseil from the suspension bridge.

He said: "I don't know how we are going to get the bikes down with us exactly, but we'll work that out when we get there."

The marines from Comukamphibfor (The Commander United Kingdom Amphibious Forces) hope to raise £30,000 from the trip for Help For Heroes, which helps people wounded in Britain's current conflicts.

They have just returned from a long tour in Iraq, and most of the training for the trip has been done on spinning bikes in the gym at their base.

The cycle ride starts on June 1 and will take them 900 miles, including crossing from East to West Scotland via Loch Ness, as well as stopping at as many Royal Marine and Military establishments as they can along the route to raise more money.

The whole event will take 10 days of cycling.

All of the cyclists have done at least one Iraq tour, and most have done more than one. The majority of them are also Afghanistan veterans and there is even a Falklands veteran.

For more information and to support the group, visit www.rmcycle.co.uk