Father of two Chris Spratling from Pewsey and four more fathers who have or have had children at St Francis School are in the rediscovered Inca city of Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes on Thursday at the start of a 300 charity bike ride through the mountains.

Mr Spratling who lives in Swan Road has flown out to Peru with John Keppel from Pewsey, Anthony Higgins from Marlborough, Ian Balchin who formerly lived in Marlborough but now in Shropshire and Ben Leighton from London who is Mr Keppel’s half brother.

Mr Balchin is the godfather of a little girl, four today (Thursday) who lives in Somerset and who has terminal leukaemia.

Four of the riders are sponsored for the charity CLIC Sargent that helps support the families of children with leukaemia.

Mr Spratling, who has two young daughters, is sponsored for the Rainbow Trust, of which he is patron, which provides care for terminally ill children and support for their families.

Last year Mr Spratling, the managing director of Readers Digest, cycled from London to Paris in aid of Great Ormond Street children’s hospital.

He said: “I decided I wanted to do more for a charity and with two young daughters a children’s charity seemed appropriate.”

Between them the five men are sponsored for a total of almost £40,000 and Mr Spratling is sponsored for almost £10,000 for the Rainbow Trust.

The men will spend 11 days in South America and after a day’s acclimatisation today (Thursday) will spend the next six and a half days riding through the Andes.