20,000 bikers, hairy and otherwise, descended on Barrow, the home town of Hairy Biker Dave Myers to in tribute to the late TV chef, who died of cancer in February aged 66, yesterday.
Cumbria Police said no arrests were made on Saturday at the “trouble-free” event dubbed Dave Day.
At the end of the mammoth ride from London, fellow Hairy Biker Si King addressed the crowds and said his friend would have been “proud.”
“We’ve all been in tears, not one dry eye,” he added, to a cheering crowd.
Myers’ widow Lili said: “Dave was always a Barrovian in his heart. He loved Barrow and he wanted to put Barrow on the map. And today, beyond his grave, he’s done it again.”
The pair later took to social media to thank those who had taken part:
The event raised money for the Institute of Cancer Research in London and the NSPCC children’s charity, and was followed by a concert and a service of remembrance for Myers.
The distance between the first and last biker to arrive in the procession was estimated to be about 16 miles, and onlookers described it as an “utterly extraordinary sight”. “It took about an hour and a half for the bikes to pass us from the first of the group to the last,” one eyewitness told BBC North East and Cumbria.
Beyond the Cumbria Police estimate of 20,000 bikers who made it all the way to Barrow, the Institute for Cancer Research estimated that as many as 46,000 bikers took part in at least some part of the procession.
