A PAIR of plucky adventurers travelled across Portugal and Spain in a 'Race Across the World' inspired fundraising trip to support two Ayrshire charities.

Dubbed 'The European Races', Josh Maxwell from Dailly and Robbie McIlwraith from Girvan spent six days travelling from Porto to Valencia in October.

The duo, alongside organiser Alistair McLeish, raised £1,020 for the Ayrshire Hospice and £515 for South Carrick Community Action Network.

Alistair said: "After watching BBC show 'Race Across the World', I came up with the idea that a group of lads from the local community should travel to fundraise for charity.

"I am someone that has travelled to many European nations in backpacking style and I have seen many tourist attractions in 19 countries.

"I thought to myself: 'Why don’t I give people an opportunity to travel and see the world while fundraising for charity at the same time?'

"So when I had four lads from the local community signed up to the fantastic cause I was hoping we would do a race between the two teams facing each other.

(Image: Contributed) "There was supposed to be four involved, however, with two pulling out last minute, we had to change the format of the project.

"We travelled together as a group and I had set up the checkpoints within the cities when we arrived at those destinations."

Alistair reveals that Josh and Robbie were given very little help along the way, with only a limited budget for the full week.

He said: "Each traveller was only allowed 500 euros spending money to last them the whole race.

"After calculating the cost of accommodation and transport and food in all destinations, the 500 euros should have lasted them a whole week in backpacking style.

"The travellers were given money belts and business cards to give to the public on their journey to explain what their cause was and to follow us online.

"The backpackers were allowed their mobile phones for travelling to the destinations, however, they were taken off their hands leaving the bus and train stations for finding or racing to the checkpoints."

To fundraise for the adventure, Josh was sponsored by Deja2 South West of Scotland DJs, SM Valet and Detailing and Connect Travels.

Robbie was sponsored by Adventure Centre for Education, Harbour Bar in Girvan and AS Electrics.

Aston Villa star Rory Wilson donated signed football boots and pro darts player Jim McEwan donated signed shirt for a raffle.

The pair walked 74 miles during the whole race and travelled 633 miles by bus and train along the way.

Robbie said: "It was an amazing experience, I got to see parts of Portugal and Spain I’d most likely never see.

"I would go back to Lisbon and Albufeira. I met great people and made great memories."

Josh added: "It was a really good backpacking experience as I got to travel through Portugal and Spain as well as meeting new people and seeing new places with many memories.

"We would like to thank everyone for their support on this fundraising idea and we have completed the race in aid of South Carrick Community Action Network and Ayrshire Hospice.

"It was a tough challenge to organise although it was worth every single minute for us all."

Donations can still be made at gofund.me/a57f2a93.