They may have lacked the gravitas of Gladiator pilots, but three RAF servicemen still received a warm welcome on Tuesday night as they chugged off the ferry from Sicily in an ageing three-wheeled car.

The car isn’t comfortable to sit inside for 20 minutes, let alone a whole night

Aircraft technicians Mark McNeil, 31, James Booth, 29, and Adam Hargreaves, 29, were eager to spend their first night in a proper bed after a gruelling five-day journey in their cramped Robin Reliant to raise money for a cancer charity.

They were met at the ferry port in Valletta by a small but raucous bunch of friends and supporters who had been following their progress online since they left RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire at dawn last Friday.

Driving for more than 2,000km, the hardy friends had to contend with mechanical problems and a tyre blowout as their 22-year-old vehicle spluttered its way through England, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

Aircraft technicians Mark McNeil, James Booth and Adam Hargreaves in St Julian’s yesterday.

They spent most nights sleeping in tents, except Monday night when the online search engine directed them to a nonexistent campsite near Pizzo in Calabria and they were forced to sleep in the car.

“That was a long night. The car isn’t comfortable to sit inside for 20 minutes, let alone a whole night,” chuckled Cpl Booth as they showed off their vehicle to The Times yesterday morning.

All agreed the highlight of the trip was finding a campsite with a swimming pool near Florence and – for one night at least – they felt like they could unwind.

“We just wanted to focus on getting here so most of the trip has felt like a challenge,” explained Sgt McNeil.

For their two nights in Malta they are staying with friends in St Julian’s and yesterday they were finally able to let their hair down on a boat trip to Gozo.

This morning they will be leaving again for the return journey to England. If all goes according to plan they will arrive back at RAF Brize Norton on Wednesday.

If they have time they will travel home via southern France, as they want to snap some photos of their modest car on the glitzy streets of Monte Carlo.

The intrepid servicemen hope their epic journey will raise at least £7,000 (€8,808) for Everyman, a charity supporting men with testicular and prostate cancer.

They chose Everyman because they have all had people close to them affected by cancer.

To follow their progress visit www.everymanformalta.co.uk/ and to donate to their cause visit www.justgiving.com/Everyman-for-Malta.