DAVID Smart already runs a major northern bakery . . . but, as if that wasn’t enough, for his 60th birthday he wanted to do something ‘memorable’.

So he teamed up with friend, Mark Power, and together they walked the breadth of Britain.

What’s more, the pair raised over £10,000 for charity after completing the coast to coast walk.

Mr Smart, managing director at Greenhalghs bakery and Mr Power, who owns Karl Kramer Photography completed the 192-mile trek after following Alfred Wainwright’s route from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hoods Bay in North Yorkshire.

The excursion took 15 days to complete and they averaged almost 15 miles of walking per day.

They even managed to rope in their wives Susan and Jan to take on the role of management and shadow their walking spouses in a pair of 4x4s, leap-frogging their husbands each day to make sure accommodation was as-booked and arranging meals, etc. in the evenings.

They did raise concern one evening however following the Grasmere to Patterdale section of their walk.

On what was one of only two days where they encountered inclement weather, particularly bad rainfall meant that they only arrived at their destination at 8pm, much to the relief of their spouses who had not been able to contact them!

Additional support came other family members either joined in for small sections of the walk or joined up with them in the evening for dinner.

Mr Power said “It wasn’t so much an onerous task, more a couple of mates just wandering across some of the country’s most beautiful landscapes, talking about anything and everything”

Mr Smart added, “We met some really lovely, friendly, generous people on the trip. We met three girls from Colorado, guys from Bangalore, Seattle and Kiel in Germany and a Belgian couple, to name but a few . . . even a couple on their honeymoon!”

The pair were greeted on the beach by a family reception party at Robin Hoods Bay at the end of their adventure before heading down to the water to dip their toes, throw in the pebbles they’d carried across from St Bees — as tradition dictates — and mark the official end of the walk.

According to Mr Power: “Complete strangers were offering their congratulations and even giving us cash to put towards our chosen charities”.

Both men chose to support charities with which they have close personal connections; David supporting the Alzheimers Society and Mark the Huntington’s Disease Association.