A KEEN walker has laced up her boots, determined to complete the equivalent distance of Land’s End to John O’Groats.

Elaine Cantwell is raising money for her local village hall in Gunnislake, where the committee is getting ready for re-opening after the lockdown.

“I grew up in a place that didn’t have a village hall,” Elaine explains, “and the young people just hung around. If you don’t have a village hall, then the community dies eventually. So I’m thinking of the future generation.”

Elaine, 50, was part of the Gunnislake pantomime, the last big event to happen in the hall before the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down.

In normal times, the hall is used for ‘anything and everything’ in the village, she says.

Having retired from her former career as a carer, which kept her away from home and very busy, Elaine has started a dog walking business and says she wants to get back into village life.

“I wanted to burn off the COVID lockdown weight and so I did two walks just for myself — Hadrian’s Wall which is 90 miles in 41 days, and The Ring of Kerry, 124 miles in three weeks.”

Elaine is using an app through the ‘Conqueror Challenge’, which logs your steps each day against a virtual route of your choice. Routes include the Inca Trail, Mount Fuji, and Land’s End to John O’Groats. As you ‘pass’ virtual milestones, you are sent postcards from along your route — and every for every fifth of your journey, a tree is planted.

When the Post caught up with Elaine, she had just reached Torquay — virtually. In real life, she had just done a seven mile walk to her nearest supermarket in Callington, to do her shopping.

Elaine’s regular route takes her down to the banks of the River Tamar at Calstock, and back up through Albaston and Harrowbarrow, heading back via the quarry to Gunnislake.

On the weekends, she will be getting her husband Paul to come along for new walks further afield.

By the end of her challenge she will have walked 1083 miles, and hopes to have raised £1083 for Gunnislake Village Hall.

To support Elaine visit www.justgiving.com and search for Elaine Cantwell.