THERE was a brief pause at the top of Penyghent, Horton-in-Ribblesdale, for friends Andy White and Mike Keel as they walked the entire length of the Pennine Way to help fund research into rare genetic diseases.

Andy, Mike and their colleague, Noel Hastings, all from the North-West, walked the 268-mile long distance path in 19 days and have so far raised more than £16,000 to help fund research and development into curing Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2) and Schwannomatosis.

In 2019, Andy's daughter Rebecca was diagnosed with NF2, and in the same year, Noel's daughter Hayley was diagnosed with Schwannomatosis.

The trio, with a combined age of 185, walked from Edale to Kirk Yetholm with a £20,000 fundraising target for NF2 BioSolutions UK and Europe, a charity which funds 15 different therapy research projects to find a cure for NF2 and Schwannomatosis.

Donations can still be made by visiting the trio's fundraising page: https://www.peoplesfundraising.com/fundraising/walkfornf2two