A charity cycle challenge along the banks of the River Nile turned to torture for two Airedale nurses.

Irene Fowler and Jeanette Bray, who work at Airedale Hospital, were roasted in the searing heat and pole-axed by gyppy-tummy.

The two theatre nurses were also used as target practice by stone throwing children -- and occasionally spat on. And other pranksters tried to up-end the women by poking sticks into the spokes of the bikes.

Like most of the other 94 on the Woman for Woman Cycle the Nile event, they were so ill they were only able to complete half the 400 kilometre course. They returned home on Monday from the eight-day trip and are still unable to return to work until tests show they are clear of the sickness and diarrhoea.

The combination of the 40C -- ten degrees above the norm -- and the gyppy-tummy forced them to restrict their cycling each day to just the morning.

But they still managed to raise more than £5,000 for the research into family health at the Queen Charlotte Hospital, London, which is spearheaded by Professor Robert Winston.

Irene, 50, of Moor Way, Oakworth, said: "People were dropping like flies with illness and the heat.

"We had only an hour's sleep before we started on the first day and after 12k, Jeanette and I were feeling bad -- our heads were pounding and we had to give up. The next day was horrendous with the heat. The normal temperature for that time of year is about 30C but it was 40 plus."

Both became ill towards the end of the week, spending most of Friday in bed, despite avoiding drinking the water and eating sensibly.

And to cap it all, they had to cope with children throwing stones and spitting at them.

Jeanette, 45, of Myrtle Drive, Cross Roads, said: "The hardest part is we have to accept the challenge defeated us. But we raised the money, which is what we promised and also we were able to see places and life like we had never seen before. So there was good and bad."

Eric Reich, managing director of Classic Tours, which organised the challenge, confirmed that a number of women had fallen ill.

Medical staff were on hand to assist and the women were accommodated on the tour bus during the day. He claimed some were not fit enough for the challenge and the event was a challenge, not a holiday.