Ottery Scout group walked the distance from Land’s End to John O’Groats around the town last weekend to raise money for new facilities.

The Explorers, Scouts, Cubs, Beavers, parents, supporters and Leaders trouped in the rain for a total of 803 miles during the ‘Hikeathon’ event, part of the fund raising project to raise �90,000 to renovate the scout centre.

The walking started last Monday with the Beavers and Cubs undertaking a joint night hike, racking up 132 miles to get Ottery Scouts off to a flying start.

Scouts and Explorers kept the ball rolling on Friday night hiking until midnight, by which time the group had collectively walked 355 miles, effectively reaching Lancashire from Land’s End.

Groups walked along pre-planned routes through the town, and returned again on Saturday morning to carry on the hike.

Scout Leader Chris Evans said: “When we hit 2.30pm we were a bit worried, because we were still a long way short of the Scottish border.

“But the young people kept racking up the miles and by the end of the event, we had some very tired young people on ours hands.

“By the time we came to the ‘Walk the Golden Mile’ event at 4pm, we only had about 100 miles to do and with so many people turning up to help us, we easily achieved our goal.”

The weekend’s activities were being coordinated from a headquarters in Ottery town square with a large map and display for passers by to track the progress and chat about the event.

Each of the walking groups was armed with a donations bucket for the project, and the Cubs and Beavers were running a bag pack at Sainsbury’s to raise more money for the event.

After the successful ‘Hikeathon’ Ottery Scouts have now passed the �50,000 marker towards their target goal of �90,000 required for the build project, which will provide disabled access and additional space for activities.