A GROUP of friends are planning a bike ride to Barcelona to raise cash for the hospice which cared for one of their dads.

The eight-strong Mersea Megababes team is preparing for the 12-day, 1,000-mile challenge, which will include gruelling climbs on roads across the Pyrenees , in aid of St Helena Hospice.

Islanders Abbi Roberts, Jess Gozzett, Harriet Fox, Harriet Caslin, Tor Jackson, Clare Latini, Abi Head and Charlotte Powell, aged between 24 and 30, grew up together in Mersea and have been close friends ever since.

They are making the trip in memory of Abbi’s dad, Alan, who died from a brain tumour last December, aged 64.

St Helena’s Hospice at Home service looked after him before he went on to spend his last days in the Colchester hospice.

Abbi, who works in the fundraising team for East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice, recalled her dad’s last days.

She said: “Wherever it was going to happen, it was going to be hard, but the team was great.

“We had a lot of support in the last three months.

“The Hospice at Home team were in and out, which was great because it meant Dad could be at home for as long as possible.

“My friends were all supportive throughout.

“I think the fact they’re all prepared to put themselves through what will, no doubt, be a painful experience is amazing.”

The team had been talking about taking on some kind of charity challenge for some time, and after Alan’s death, they had the motivation they needed.

Abbi said: “We’ve got a couple of good friends who had ridden around Britain.

“We decided we could do something as well. We were sick of them getting all the attention.”

The Mersea Megababes team name started off as a tongue-incheek joke, but has since stuck.

The girls have been planning and training since January to take on the tough route, which will take them into France, over the Pyrenees and along the Spanish coast.

They will set off on September 11 and they hope to raise £10,000 in sponsorship.

Charlotte, 27, a minerals and waste planner for Essex County Council, said: “I know we can do it.

“Everyone has got a really good attitude about just getting stuck in.

“People can’t quite believe that we’re cycling all the way to Barcelona “The hospice is incredible.

Seeing the support it gave Abbi, her mum and her brother we know it’s a very worthy cause.”

  • To sponsor their ride, visit justgiving.com/mersea-megababes.