A COUNCILLOR hopes to raise £30,000 for local hospices by embarking on a 6,000-mile bike ride to north-east Turkey.

Tory Salih Gaygusuz, who represents Marshalswick South on St Albans District Council, plans to ride his Harley Davidson from St Albans to his home village of Pekun and back.

He said: "I have always enjoyed a challenge - I have jumped from a plane for charity, been to the bottom of the ocean, climbed mountains, been to war and travelled on my own from Turkey to the UK at the tender age of 15.

"So why add to these now, with a long bike journey for exceptionally good causes?"

His outward route to his village near Trabzon on the Black Sea coast will take about five days, passing through France, Germany, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

The return leg will include a short diversion to the First World War battlefields of Gallipoli, before passing through Greece, Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro.

In Bosnia, Councillor Gaygusuz will meet old friends he made when he worked as a photo-journalist and aid worker during the devastating civil war in the 1990s.

He said: "I will take a ferry to Brindisi and Italy, riding by the Adriatic coast all the way to Milan.

"After Italy, my dream of riding through the Swiss Alps will come true - I am really looking forward to this part.

"I will continue through France, Germany, Luxemburg, Holland, Belgium, France again and finally back home.

"Hopefully I won't have missed too many full council meetings, and will have reached the targeted sum of money."

Councillor Gaygusuz has set up a website for friends and contacts to donate and he hopes businesses will join in with sponsorship.

He has already won support from the RAC, Barclays Bank and Ashtons estate agency, as well as a Harley-Davidson dealership in Istanbul, and is raising extra money through selling photographs of last week's mayor-making ceremony.

Ashtons has pledged to donate if home sellers mention Councillor Gaygusuz, while local restaurants such as Little Marrakech and Buon Amici will pledge £5 for every booking. The cash will go towards St Albans' Grove House, and the Keech Cottage children's hospice in Luton.

Councillor Gaygusuz's web-page, which needs a sponsor, can be seen at www.salih.co.uk/charityride