A group of family and friends are on an 84-mile walk from one side of the country to the other.

Trevor King, 56, of Hartley, lost his wife Linda to bowel cancer on September 18, 2014, a year after she was diagnosed. She was 47.

Since then he and sons Calvin, 21, and Tyler, 21 and 20, and daughter Robin, 18, have been raising money for hospice charity ellenor, who provided them with support.

Mr King, who is a property developer, said: “Linda was at Darent Valley Hospital and asked if she could be transferred. The ellenor found a bed for her where she spent the last 10 days.

“They were fantastic for her, absolutely fantastic. We thought it would be nice to do something in her memory. We did bits and pieces last year and raised about £2,000, and decided to go to the next level to try and raise more awareness for the ellenor because they need an awful lot of money to keep it running.”

That next level is to walk along Hadrian’s Wall from Newcastle to Carlisle.

Mr King, alongside his sons, brother-in-law, and friends from years gone by, left for the north east from the Lads of the Village pub in Stone on Saturday, and aim to complete the walk today (Friday).

He said: “There have been collection pots at businesses around the area and we’ve got buckets to take on the walk.

“We were aiming for £5,000 but I think we’ve already beat that overall. The response has been amazing.

“Any company that has donated £100 or more has been printed on some T-shirts that we will wear throughout the walk. They are all local businesses and I was staggered at the amount of companies that came forward.

“Even some individuals have donated £100 for us, which is amazing.

“It’s been quite an emotional experience to be honest, but it’s been fantastic to see the response.”

Donations can still be made to support the cause at justgiving.com/fundraising/ lindakingwalk