Veterinary surgeon, Edric Cross, from Arg Beiyn Veterinary Practice has successfully completed his marathon trek through the French Pyrenees following the GR10 footpath.
Beginning at Hendaye on the French Atlantic coast and walking between 15 to 18 miles a day he completed the 500 mile walk to Banyules-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean coast in 28 days. This is somewhat faster than the recommended usual walking time of between 40 and 50 days.

Edric described some of the challenges that he faced: “This was a lot harder challenge than I had thought. From the point of view of distance walked in the day it does not seem that far but taking into account the amount of climbing involved I was walking between 10 and 12 hours a day not including rests! Most days involved a significant amount of climbing, the biggest day I climbed a total of around 2,800 metres that’s nearly 2 miles straight up and most days involved climbing at least 2,000 metres! Coupled with the steep descents there was very little walking that was flat. I lost 10Kg in weight (22lb) and have even worn out a brand new pair of walking boots.

I cannot say I enjoyed every minute of the walk but I love this kind of challenge and with the added incentive of sponsorship the four weeks actually passed quite quickly. In total I have raised just over ?1,100 for our charities; The Manx Wildlife Trust and Hounds for Heroes.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the sponsors and add that if anyone has any outstanding sponsorship money could they please drop it in at one of our surgeries in Ramsey, Onchan or Peel.”