BIKER Desmond Bennett is planning his latest continental foray - at the age of 83! It is more than 60 years ago that Desmond first roared along the roads of Europe, but if all goes well he will soon be off with a biking companion to France and Spain. First on the agenda for the former Rolls Royce engineer is a spin down to Land's End. He reckons the return trip along the by-roads shouldn't take more than three days and will make a change from trips around the Lake District. In his time, the veteran biker has owned more than 100 machines and has ridden all around Europe, and from Alaska to San Francisco.

His current choice of model is a Honda 90 Club and he has done about 500 miles this month.

Until recently, he had two bikes but then opted to sell his two-stroke twin TDR.

He laughed: "Even with all my clothes on I'm only nine stones, and some bikes are a bit heavy. Riding them is no problem, but manhandling them can be.

"When you're riding you need all your faculties and have to be very alert. And it's vital to wear the proper clothing, you can't go out in any old thing."

Desmond, who lives in Colin Street, Barnoldswick, remembers his first bike as though it were yesterday. It was in 1932 and he paid £2 10s for a New Imperial. Soon afterwards he really went to town, and paid £6 for a Royal Enfield.

His love of long-distance biking grew in the 1930s and he is unlikely to ever forget the circumstances of his journey home from Venice in 1939.

The beautiful scenic route took him all the way through Germany - just 14 days before the war started!

One day he would like to return to the open roads of Canada and America. He was nearly 70 when he drove 100,000 miles, in a car, in three months on a trip that included walking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and taking on the Yanks at their own traffic games in the mayhem of Manhattan and the Bronx.

A year later went back to New York, got in the same car, which a friend had failed to sell because of the high mileage and did another 100,000 miles before selling it to a dealer.

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