A pair of Biggleswade pals are to walk more than 100 miles to Great Yarmouth to raise money for cancer support.

David Barkham, who has lived with leukaemia for more than 10 years, is to take on the mammoth challenge with his friend Darren Hatch – sleeping in tents until they make it to the Norfolk town.

They hope to raise £3,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support, a cause close to both their hearts.

David said: “Having cancer myself, I feel it’s time to give something back.

“I’m doing the walk to thank the charity that has helped me so much. I wouldn’t want to think what my life would be like without them. I consider myself very lucky to have been aided and supported by Macmillan.”

David was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia in 2007, when he was 16, and has had regular life-saving treatment at London’s University College Hospital ever since.

He visits the Macmillan Cancer Centre every three or four months, and he says the help and care he has received from the doctors and nursing staff has been “literally lifesaving”.

Darren has had two aunts diagnosed with cancer, one of whom tragically died last year after failed treatment for breast cancer. The other aunt has survived cancer twice.

David and Darren are both training hard for the big walk, which they plan to start on September 1 and complete within 10 days.

They picked Great Yarmouth as their destination as Darren used to regularly go there with his grandparents when he was younger – and the distance of about 100 miles made it perfect.

Darren said: “This challenge will not be easy to accomplish. Together we are training every week and determined to reach Great Yarmouth.

“Starting from Biggleswade, we will set off towards Cambridge –then Thetford and then on towards Norwich. Then, hopefully, we’ll finally finish on the coast in Great Yarmouth.

“We aim to walk between 10 and 15 miles a day and complete this challenging walk in less than 10 days.

“Any donations would be greatly appreciated and help motivate us even more to accomplish this challenge.”

If you’d like to support David and Darren, see justgiving.com/fundraising/DarrenDave.