A ROSS-on-Wye man whose leukaemia was discovered after a routine blood donation has completed a Top Gear-style charity challenge to Ireland with friends travelling in a convoy of ageing cars to raise money for Blood Cancer UK.

Pete Jenkins, 59, was originally shocked to discover during a routine blood donation appointment that he was suffering from a type of blood cancer.

But undeterred, Peter alongside a group of close friends, took on the ‘Relics in Relics’ challenge, travelling from Ross, through Wales, Ireland and onto Northern Ireland in fiver cars worth less than £650 each – typical of the Top Gear challenges.

Pete said: "In January, I was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. It was a bit of a shock.

"I'm on what's called watch and wait. I still have regular blood tests and, apart from being tired sometimes, I don't really have symptoms.”

While Pete's diagnosis does not currently require treatment, he says living with a blood cancer has brought its own challenges and for him giving blood had been part of his life for decades. Pete admits he knew very little about blood cancer and decided he wanted to focus on helping others. "It made me realise I'm not immortal and I decided to do something positive.”

And inspired by the classic Top Gear challenges, Pete rounded up a group of friends to go a road trip in cheap cars, also known as relics. "We've all watched Top Gear and The Grand Tour. One of those old banger rallies was something I'd always fancied doing but never got round to,” he added.

The rules were simple: buy a road-legal car for less than £650 and hope it survives. Nobody knew what the other crew members had worked on and the first time they saw the cars was outside the Market House in Ross early on Friday morning.

Pete's own choice of vehicle was a 25-year-old Alfa Romeo 156 diesel with more than 168,000 miles on the clock. "It was a bit of an impulse buy. I originally wanted a Saab, but Jeremy Clarkson always seemed to end up buying an Alfa, so I thought I'd Italian it up a bit. It's probably going to break down, added Pete.

The convoy of three Mercedes, an Alfa and a Nissan left the Market Place, waved on by a man in a typical Top Gear lab coat at precisely 7am.

The convoy then travelled non-stop through Wales to Holyhead, without incident before crossing to Dublin and continuing up country into Northern Ireland before finishing the challenge at Kilkeel, later that same day.

The crew members visited Kilbroney Vintage Show the following day and Bishopscourt Race Circuit on the Sunday helping to raise awareness of blood cancer before the crew headed home at their own pace.

Pete concluded: "It's not just about raising money. It's about awareness. Before I was diagnosed, I knew next to nothing about blood cancer. If sharing my story gets one person to take symptoms seriously, or understand a bit more about blood cancer, then that's a good thing.”