A STONEMASON pedalled from one end of Britain to the other - raising £10-a-mile as he went.

Andrew Grassby, 48, biked his way from Land's End to John O'Groats and raised £10,000 for the British Heart Foundation on the way.

Mr Grassby, co-director of Grassby & Sons in Dorchester, decided to take up the 1,000-mile challenge in aid of the charity that helped his dad Clinton - a former Dorchester councillor - recover from a quadruple heart bypass and an aneurysm of the aorta.

Mr Grassby said: "I cycled my mountain bike with friends once or twice a week. I went to see my father in hospital after the operation and he asked me how my cycling was coming on.

"He used to be a keen cyclist and had always wanted to cycle from end-to-end, so I decided to make the trip on my own and make some money for the British Heart Foundation."

The father-of-two from Martinstown rode between 68 and 91 miles every day over 14 days on some of the more isolated minor roads in the country, staying every night in a camper van driven by one of his back-up team.

He said: "It was a fantastic ride, using lots of unclassified roads through some really beautiful scenery, especially in the Scottish Highlands and in the Lake District.

"The most difficult part was probably the eight-mile climb up to the Kirkstone Pass in the Lake District, or the six miles up to the highest village in Britain, a place called Wanlock Head just north of Glasgow.

"As the two weeks went on I just got fitter and fitter and I felt great by the end.

"For the first couple of days in the south west I was going to bed at eight o'clock as I was so tired, but by the end I was up until 11 o'clock."

Sponsorship for the ride was provided in part by Weymouth Caravans, which lent a camper van, and Dorchester firm Epic Printing, which paid for all the van's fuel.

Mr Grassby, whose father has now made a full recovery, says he has kept up the cycling and would love to do another big ride some time in the future.

He said: "I would love to do the coast of Britain, which is over 3,000 miles.

"You go all the way around, usually from John O'Groats to John O'Groats, but it's just a question of having the time.

"I will do it when I retire. I'm a glutton for punishment, I suppose."