TWO bikers from Workington have honoured a fallen soldier from the town who died at the Battle of the Somme in an epic trip initially inspired by the D-Day 80th anniversary.

David Robinson and David Nicholson, who both have strong connections to the armed forces, set off from Workington on Tuesday, June 4 on a motorcycle trip to honour the fallen, in the midst of D-Day 80th anniversary events throughout Europe.

The pair rode down to the national monument in Staffordshire before catching the ferry on June 5, which landed in Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

The pair then went to Sword beach and laid wreaths at the monument to Piper Bill Millin, who piped the troops ashore and over Pegasus Bridge on D-Day.

Following that, the pair also took time to remember the fallen from World War I.

The bikers rode inland to the Guards Cemetery, Lesboeufs on the Somme, laying a poppy cross at the grave of a Workington man named Charlie Taggart, who died on Christmas Eve 1916.

David said: "His family had never been there, they had never been to the grave, so we took a poppy cross with an inscription from his family, put that there and took pictures.

"We saw that two of his comrades were killed at the same time, and they were buried either side of him."

The pair continued their tour across northern Europe, moving across into Germany, then into Amsterdam and Rotterdam before getting home yesterday, June 12 with the entire journey being estimated at around 10,200 miles.

Speaking about the experience, David said: "Obviously in Normandy there was lots and lots going on , lots of re-enactments on the beaches, pipe bands, Royalty, heads of state... that was all very grand.

"But probably the most poignant, upsetting part of the trip was definitely going out to the Guards Cemetery. We were on tiny little roads going through the countryside of the Somme.

"It was a completely peaceful place, fantastic cemetery and I would say that was fairly overwhelming to go there... the sense of scale.

"My friend's mam found out we were going there and she asked would we consider going to Charlie's grave, and I couldn't say no.

"We were more than happy to that, for the first three or four days we had a sense of responsibility to go and do our duties and then after that we just enjoyed the rest of the trip."