Etal woman prepares for mammoth walk

Claire Joicey will set off from Tower Bridge in London on June 3 on a challenge which will take nine months.

She is doing it for Macmillan Cancer Support and Help Refugees and has already received a magnificent £2,795 in pledges, closing in on her £4,500 target.

Despite being a seasoned long-distance walker – last year she trekked from Land’s End to John O’Groats – she admits that the ‘terrifying reality’ of the daunting challenge which awaits is starting to hit home.

‘It could only have taken two of the worthiest causes possible to make me want to get out and walk 4,500 miles around the coastline of Britain in a mere nine months,’ she writes in her blog.

‘I have seen the work of both first-hand and at full capacity over the last 12 months and both deserve all the support they can possibly get,’ she said, adding: ‘Their work is, put simply, phenomenal and inspirational.’

To donate, visit www.mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/cvjoicey

Claire will also be keeping a blog at www.walkthinkwrite.wordpress.com

Last year, Claire won a prize at the Wicked Young Writer Awards for her entry, The Attic.