Barbara and John Sellars have for some time has had an idea of ‘walking the land’.
Barbara says “last year, whilst walking Wainwright’s Coast to Coast walk, the idea of walking all the UK National Trails began to seed itself. This, we decided, would be a way of ‘walking the land’; of exploring and seeing many areas of England, Wales and Scotland, some of which neither of us had ventured into at all.
What quickly followed was the idea of raising money for a cause and something that would benefit and honour the land and the environment of the place we both love so much was an obvious choice.
We chose the Woodland Trust because, apart from the obvious environmental necessity of trees, both of us have derived such joy and nourishment from woodlands all our lives and have had the privilege of being able to walk in them almost every day.
We would like to think that future generations will enjoy the same privilege (necessity even) and we’re aware that without support for woodland protection and the planting of new forests, this may not be the case. In addition to all of this, the concept of the greenwood, we feel, lies at the heart and soul of the British psyche. We’d just like to make a little contribution to its survival.
Our first sponsored trek will be the Offa’s Dyke Trail which we’re beginning on the 16th May. It’s 177 miles along the English/Welsh border and we’re walking it in 11 Days.
We’re intending to walk the trails at a minimum of 2 per year (more would be great but there are time constraints for us).
Our next one is likely to be in August this year and, at the moment, we think it’s going to be the Peddars Way and North Norfolk Coast path – one of the shorter, more easy-going trails. We have the Pennine Way lined up for next year which, we’ve no doubt, will be slightly more taxing! We’ll definitely have earned whatever sponsorship we raise on that one”!!
You can support Barbara at JustGiving