Plymouth Evening Herald journalist Hilary Vivian is preparing for a 300-mile charity cycle challenge through Poland.

She is to join more than 400 other cyclists, including former Conservative health minister Edwina Currie, for the journey to Warsaw to raise money for the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity.

Hilary, (51), has been training for the event for the last few months cycling up and down the Tarka Trail, near her Holsworthy home, and will fly out to Vilnius in Lithuania on September 10.

It will be the second time she has taken part in the event, having first completed it in 2004, and she is hoping to equal her fundraising total of £5,100.

Starting out from Lithuania, Hilary, a senior sub-editor and features writer at the Herald, will be travelling in a group of 80 cyclists, covering around 60 miles a day.

Other groups will embark on the journey from different points, including Gdansk and Berlin, with the aim of meeting in Warsaw.

Having already taken part in the challenge once, Hilary said she was looking forward to the second ride.

She said: "It was such a great experience – meeting different people from all over the country and raising money for such a wonderful cause.

"I enjoyed it so much – it makes you realise that you can do things that you think you can't.

"It seemed like a mountain to climb, but it was a really terrific experience.

"Poland is a lovely country. The rural part is still quite undiscovered and last time we were travelling through farmland, with old-fashioned farmyards and duck ponds and orchards, we had people coming out into the streets and giving us apples as we passed through."

The ride, called the Great 500 Cycle Challenge, remembers the life of Polish-born scientist Marie Curie, who discovered radium and became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Physics.

Both Marie and her husband, Pierre, were keen cyclists, and the trip is intended to celebrate their favourite hobby while exploring the towns of the scientist's youth.

If you would like to sponsor Hilary you can contact her at hvivian@westcountrypublications.co.uk.