Chris and Martin complete walk around England done in stages that started and finished in Berwick

During their student days at Newcastle University, Chris Homan and Martin Smith decided to walk from Berwick Railway Station to Newcastle. This did not happen for another two decades, it was September 2003 when they realised that unfinished task.

After completing the mission, by some trap of optimism and stunned by the beauty of Northumberland, they decided to carry on and walk the entire perimeter of England.

Today, Chris lives in Great Barford (Bedfordshire) and Martin lives in Wingham (Kent). Their adventures needed to fit between busy lives, which included the birth of children, different employments, expatriation, a divorce and the loss of parents.

But finally, on April 12, they arrived back at Berwick Railway Station. The 54 contiguous legs took them 2,700 miles (4,300km) around the coast and along the borders with Wales and Scotland.

They had developed a code of rules forbidding them from using hotel accommodation – so nights were spent in tents, bivvy bags or under tarpaulins.

Martin said: “Each leg of the journey proved an adventure within an adventure. The events and memories are too numerous to credit here, only to say that this has been a rich experience.

“The years and seasons of adventure matured like the mellowing of wine, ripe for tasting before we got too old.

“One of our toughest walks was a 41-miler into Grimsby, when the deep frost had frozen our packs. An iconic day was arriving at Tower Bridge in London, another was having a tot of rum on HMS Victory, at the spot where Nelson had fallen.

“Anything over 20 miles inevitably brought painful feet and blisters, especially the ups and downs of coastal cliff walks in south-west England.

“Some days we were beaten by hail or drenched in rain, like our walk over St Bees Head in the dark last year. Other days were glorious. We always found the energy to get going the following morning because resilience soon develops with the familiarity of physical hardship.

“In Northumberland, we were lucky with the weather. The normally boggy ground over the Cheviots was dry and the sky was cloudless.

“We met so many kind people along the way; many keen to know more about our adventures and always eager to divulge some interesting local knowledge.

“Of landscapes, we have traversed the high cliffs of Cornwall to the softer landscapes of Suffolk, the flood dykes of Lincolnshire, the great estuaries of the Humber, Thames and Severn and the beautiful hills of Shropshire.

“It is difficult to say which part of the walk we liked most because any landscape or place can have many qualities – in their natural beauty, geology, history, industrial power, or people.

“To walk alongside a power station is as impressive as a cliff face.

“We both agree that our lives have been enriched by this adventure. Done over the years and seasons, it has brought a great diversity experience.”