WALLACE and Gromit watch out . . . top dog Jake is set for the journey of a lifetime in an outfit with a real pedigree.

Chocolate Labrador Jake will raise plenty of smiles on a 3,500 mile motorbike journey around Britain in aid of Diabetes Awareness Week.

He'll be the coolest dude in Leigh when he and his master -- Atherton-born Alec Chadwick -- ride the British coastline on a purpose-built £10,000 sidecar outfit.

The duo will travel in true Wallace and Gromit style covering around 200 miles a day and at the same time helping charity.

The journey starts in Merseyside, circumnavigating mainland Britain and keeping as close to the coast as possible.

"I'll see what the weather is like in Scotland before we decide whether to set-off clockwise or anti-clockwise," smiled Alec, who has been riding for 50 years. He developed his passion as a teenager when he bought local rider Jack Manley's B32 BSA competition bike. Since then he's owned scores of them and ridden hundreds of thousands of miles.

The ex-RAF man and semi-retired electrical engineer has driven a scooter to the Arctic Circle, chugged sidevalve BSAs in the Egyptian desert, swooped through Portugal and Spain by Pan-European and cruised Route 66 on a hired Harley.

"I thought it would be good to take Jake to the many different places I enjoy riding through, so I bought a new bike suitable for a sidecar," said Alec. They aren't doing things by halves. Jake will have his own travel bed in the sidecar, a specially made tonneau cover through which he can pop his head, and a four-point safety harness.

The show-stopping duo are great ambassadors for motorcycling and their round Britain tour will highlight Diabetes Awareness week.

"I'd decided to get an outfit and take Jake on a ride so I thought I may as well do it for a deserving cause, raise awareness of diabetes and hopefully raise money for them as well," said Alec, whose daughters Rachel and Amanda are diabetic.

British Diabetic Association regional manager Barbara Wright is thrilled to bits by Alec and Jake's journey.

Donations should be made by cheque to the British Diabetic Association, and sent to BDA regional HQ at 65 Bewsey Street, Warrington, WA2 7JQ.