Denholme trekker Chris Anderson is set to cross an Egyptian desert on foot next month in aid of a national charity.

Mrs Anderson, 60, of Carperley Crescent, will walk 60 miles across the desert to Mount Sinai - where Moses received the Ten Commandments - to raise money for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

But time is running out for her to collect the necessary funds for the expedition, which costs £2,000 per person. Mrs Anderson has already raised £1,000 and is now pleading for people to help her collect the remaining £1,000 before February 15 - the deadline.

During the trek, she will pass ancient sandstone buildings, walk along pilgrim footsteps, climb high mountains and travel through the blue desert and up Mount Sinai in time for sunrise.

To help her acclimatise to the intense heat of the desert and gruelling terrain, Mrs Anderson has adapted her living room into a Sinai simulator - radiator on full, walking machine and backpack filled with bottles of pop.

To help her body get used to the searing 90-degree temperature, she also wears layers of woolly jumpers and a sleeveless fleece around the house.

She says: "I've never done anything like this before and I only found out about it through a friend of mine.

"But when I say I'll do something, I do it. I'm getting really excited about it. It's a challenge and I'm not really the pearls and twin-set type of person, so this is an experience not to be missed.

"But the funding is getting a bit desperate now. The Bradford branch of the Association has been brilliant and supports me 100 per cent, so I hope other people will do the same."

The Bradford Cancer Research charity shop worker leaves for Egypt on March 25. Anyone wanting to make a donation should contact Dawn Bruce, the treasurer of the Bradford branch of The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, on 01274 817275.

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