A DAILY diet of hard-boiled eggs, breath-taking scenery and new friendships are abiding memories that Alison Dobell and Mavis Burnage will carry with them forever after their 'great walk of China'.

The friends from Thanet raised £7,700 during their trek along part of the Great Wall for the National Star Centre College that educates brain-damaged and disabled young people. Despite nine months training, Miss Dobell - a crime scene officer for Thanet police - and Mrs Burnage found the 65-mile walk hard going.

En route the slept in sparse army barracks of the Peoples Republic of China en route that had no heating and little hot water. Wrapped in sleeping bags under foil wraps, they fought to ignore the freezing temperatures at night that plummeted to minus ten degrees Fahrenheit.

Although their rations consisted mainly of boiled eggs - "we don't want toe at another for a long time" - the walkers were struck how fortunate they were when local villagers scrabbled to retrieve the scraps that they left behind.

Miss Dobell said: "We must have looked pretty bizarre, strolling along the Great Wall, singing away with our new-found friends on the walk, and wearing jester's hats given to us by one of our sponsors.

"We took little sachets of dragon noodles with us to eat - fancy taking noodles to China! They were very comforting though, given the rations we had.

"The scenery was breath-taking and the sheer scale of the construction of the wall is unbelievable. At times we were walking along strips of wall that were just two-foot wide with a 100ft drop the other side.

"There were odd moments too like when we found a bus stop in an orchard on the side of a mountain."

Mrs Burnage, who lives in Garlinge, said that witnessing the lives of people from a radically different culture to their "impressed upon us just how fortunate we are".

She said: "We learnt so much about ourselves and others on this trip. It was a wonderful experience."

The friends would like to thank everybody who sponsored their trip. The money will go towards a technology centre at the college in Cheltenham. The pair received certificates from the college which oganised the walk.