A FATHER whose two children were saved by a special care baby unit is cycling more than 800 miles for charity.

Dave Jones, 45, from Bridport set off yesterday (July 8)to wheel his way from St Malo to teh Spanish border in Biarritz to raise money for Bliss, a charity that supports parents of premature babies.

The self-employed electrical contractor, who also runs a weekly spinning class at Bridport Leisure Centre was undaunted, saying he was looking forward to the challenge.

Although his two sons are now strapping rugby players he hasn’t forgotten the terror of their births when both spent weeks in intensive care.

Mr Jones said: “My eldest boy Ryan was born six weeks early and he’d stopped growing in the womb six weeks before that, so was effectively 12 weeks early

“He was given 24 hours to live and weighed only 2lb 7oz.

“He spent six weeks in special care and came home still only weighing 3lbs 13oz.”

His second son, Ross, was slowly strangling himself in the womb and was also born by emergency caesarean. He was 4lb 3oz but was not particularly early just very small. He developed septicaemia in special care and was there a month.

Mr Jones said: “They care they received at Southmeads in Bristol was absolutely fantastic. I think that goes generally for those units.

“Ryan is now 22 and Ross 18. They are both rugby players, both strapping lads but you don’t ever forget.”

Mr Jones is heading off on his adventure with no support vehicle and only a one-way ferry ticket.

He is hoping to cycle at a minimum of 50 miles a day and trust to luck to find somewhere to sleep each night. He won’t even have a tent with him.

He added: “My boys think I am totally mad but they think it is great.”

Mr Jones also paid tribute to the support he has already received locally, especially from designer Paul Fowler, who at very short notice and for no fee designed a logo for the trip.

Mr Jones said: “He must have seen my Facebook page and rang me out of the blue to offer his help.”

The only previous ride Mr Jones attempted was ten years ago when he cycled from Bristol to London, also for special care units.

He added: “The longest I’d done previously was from Bristol to London on a mountain bike, that was for charity for special care units as well."

Mr Jones has a Facebook page, Cycle Dribble 2015, for people who want to follow the ride and a donation site at justgiving.com/David-Jones119.