Nicknamed the “End to End Fools”, 13 people in seven different groups will be doing exactly that this week, leaving Land’s End on April 1 bound for John O’Groats 874 miles away.
Leading the pack will be John and Nancy Eckersley, from Yorkshire, who are walking the famous route to celebrate their retirement and purposefully chose April 1 as the perfect day to begin.
“Retirement is for putting your feet up, right? Not in our case,” said Nancy, 60. “Some people will think we’re nuts and some may think it’s a practical joke, so we thought it was entirely appropriate to start our challenge on April Fools Day.
“Of course we’re also thinking – are we being foolish ourselves? We’ve been planning this for a year now and we can’t wait to get going.”
John, a former geography teacher, and Nancy, who retired as a vicar in January, will take a leisurely five months to complete their journey, walking on average 11 miles a day. They are hoping to raise money for Christian Aid en route.
“We are taking a Land’s End to John O’Groats signpost with us and we will be counting down the miles as we go,” said John, 68. “As to whether we’re fools – ask me in five months’ time.”
Others setting off on Friday include Aaron Howlett who won TV’s Britain’s Biggest Loser competition, shedding 10 stone in 19 weeks. He is walking to John O’Groats and back, inspired by Ian Botham, for the NSPCC.
David Bryans, General Manager at Land’s End, said: “We look forward to welcoming the End to End Fools to Land’s End and giving them the send off they deserve on Friday.”
For more information on Land’s End visit www.landsend-landmark.co.uk
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