Walking is one of the most natural things we, as humans, do. We do it all the time and it comes as naturally to us as breathing or sleeping.
But, as with all things that we so often take for granted, there are many people who are denied this right.
Sometimes things happen to you or those you love which reminds you that, beyond all doubt, we are extremely lucky to be healthy and able to do truly great things with our bodies and minds.
Ben Peachey and Kelly Simpson are a couple, based in London, England who are determined to do something great, for a truly worthy cause.
They will walk from New York to San Francisco. East coast to West coast. 3,600 miles, 13 States, 4 time zones and every climate and terrain imaginable. They will set off in March 2012 and should reach their destination by November the same year.
For EIGHT months they will be camping almost every night. They will carry all of their own gear on their backs and will be doing this totally on their own.
A little about Ben and Kelly...
Ben Peachey
Ben is currently 25 and is a singer/actor based in Palmers Green, North London. He has previously raised money for charity in several other events including organising music festivals and walking across the French, Swiss and Italian Alps in December 2008. 10 years ago Ben's amazing mother Judith Peachey was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a long, hard fight against the disease and was provided with first class help from professionals. She has now been 5 years clear of cancer and the whole family know just how lucky they are. Ben desperately wants to give something back to the organisations that made his mums recovery so successful by raising awareness and much needed funds for research. Ben is extremely proud to be walking in aid of the Association for International Cancer Research.
Kelly Simpson
Kelly is currently 22 and lives with Ben in Palmers Green. She is a trained dancer and dance teacher and teaches in many establishments throughout London and the surrounding areas. Kelly is originally from Welwyn Garden City but has recently moved to the capital. Although the original concept of the trip was Ben's idea Kelly very quickly got on board with it and was soon contributing huge amounts of enthusiasm and new ideas to the project. This will be Kelly's first long distance walk for charity and she is very excited to start the training process for such a huge undertaking. After having heard and seen so much of the great work done by charities for cancer research Kelly is very much looking forward to doing everything that she can to help a charity as deserving as the Association for International Cancer Research.
For the past eight months Ben and Kelly have been planning and training for this walk constantly. They have already experienced a huge amount of ups and downs along the way in training and there is still A LOT of training to do! Stay tuned for more updates...