RNLI volunteers from London are cycling 540km, one kilometre for every life they’ve saved

Starting next week, a group of active Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), volunteers from Tower Lifeboat Station in London will embark on an eight-day, 540km bike ride to raise money for the charity, which saves lives at sea in the UK and Ireland.

It will take place from the charity’s headquarters in Poole to Lifeboat Pier in London, pedalling one kilometre for each life the crew has saved on the Thames since the station was established in 2002.

A core group of five or six cyclists will ride the entire route, visiting other lifeboat stations as they travel along England’s Southeast coast, via Cowes on the Isle of Wight, Littlehampton,