Friends Ian Hall and Tom Berry are celebrating the end of university by driving 8,000 miles across Europe for charity.

The former Hardenhuish School pals graduated with first class honours and, rather than face the world of work, have decided to take part in one last adventure in the form of the Mongol Rally.

Mr Hall, 23, of Kington Langley, studied civil engineering at Cardiff. He said: “This is something we have wanted to do for a couple of years.

“Since we both just finished university we thought it would be the perfect time to get around to it before getting a job – it is like signing off the end of an era.

“We are really looking forward to it and just want to get going now.”

Mr Berry, of Startley, studied business and accountancy at Loughborough University.

The two pals, together with another friend Richard Tasker, will travel for around a month, sleeping in a tent and sharing the driving.

The group has already raised £2,000 for The Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, which works with orphaned and homeless children in the capital of Mongolia,Ulaanbaatar, and £1,500 for the Meningitis Research Foundation.

Mr Hall said: “Tom and I have been personally affected by meningitis because a friend of ours died of it while we were in school.

“This has motivated us to raise as much as we can, and hopefully by the end of it we will have raised a lot more.”

Driving a Daihatsu Terios, the group will head for Ulaanbaatar without the help of a guided route as the aim of the adventure is for travellers to find their own way.

“It will be an adventure,” said Mr Hall.

“We had to buy the car for this, so hopefully it will hold out.

“We wanted to use a 4x4 but the rules say you can only use a small car, so we found this.

“We have been planning this since September and it is all coming together now.”

To sponsor the group visit www.justgiving.com/thisisoureverest or to donate to their Meningitis Research Foundation efforts log on to www.justgiving.com/thisisoureverestmrf