MORE THAN 100 motorcyclists have raised nearly £2,000 through a charity bike ride from Weymouth to Exmouth.

Organiser John Bramble, from Chickerell, said the group had raised nearly double their original target as part of the Open Air Riders’ fundraising bike ride, which was run in aid of Action on Addiction's rehabilitation centre Clouds House.

Mr Bramble launched the project on November 7 and said the cause is close to his heart as he lost his son Craig to solvent abuse on the same day in 2001.

"Clouds House do a great job, what they do is absolutely amazing and it’s really important to keep that going," he said.

"We wanted to raise the money to let recovering addicts know that they are not struggling alone, so hopefully it will help them."

The group set off from the Granby Industrial Estate in Weymouth on Sunday (March 28) and stopped off in West Bay at Helmet City for refreshments before completing their 60-mile journey on Exmouth seafront.

He said of the event: “I’m so proud, and overwhelmed with the response from everyone.

"We had about 120 bikes in the end and a lot of them were two-up, so I take my hat off to all of them.

“Considering the weather I’m really chuffed we had as many people take part as we did."

Mr Bramble said they received a warm welcome at all their ports of call, with people waving, cheering, taking pictures and even filming videos of their arrival.

"By Monday morning one of the videos had over 5,000 views, so I hope it has helped raise awareness," he said.

"People who weren't even on the ride messaged me and said what myself and Open Air Riders did is fantastic, someone from a Brighton-based bike group came to Weymouth just to shake my hand and another person said if Carlsberg were to do rides this would be the bench-mark."

Mr Bramble passed his thanks to Mike and Julian at Helmet City, Alison and Stewart at Snack Shack, John Lacey at East Devon District Council and staff at the DJ Café in Exmouth, as well as his wife Wendy, the admin team at Open Air Riders South West, event marshals on the day and the group's own 'paparazzi' bike.

Mr Bramble added that next year's fundraiser has already been planned for the last weekend of March 2016.