Couple to re-start trek around Britain's coastline

A couple attempting to walk the coastline of mainland Great Britain plan to re-start their journey after their first attempt had to be abandoned when one of them suffered an injury.

Zoe Langley-Wathen, 54 , and Mike Langley, 73, aim to raise £10,000 for Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance over their 7,300-mile (1,1748 km) journey.

The Somerset couple set off in October last year, but after a stress fracture for Langley-Wathen, they were forced to stop after covering just 60 miles.

She said: "I'm learning to go slowly, not too fast too soon. It's probably the reason I got the fracture in the first place."

She explained they could not return home as they had rented out their property, so they have been staying in a friend's flat in Wellington, Somerset.

Now that she has recovered, they plan to restart their two-year challenge from the start in Studland near Bournemouth on 4 February.

Even though Langley has had two new hips in the last three years he said: "I was like a caged lion for months, because I can't sit still. Now that we're going again I'm ready."

When they began their first attempt of the walk, they were waved off by members of the local air ambulance crew.

"It was incredible and the most beautiful experience," said Langley-Wathen, with her husband saying they were "honoured to have so many people come".

The couple met by chance when they were on separate walks along the South West Coast Path in 2011, and ended up married three years later.

Since then, they have walked thousands of miles together, even walking 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage path in Spain for their honeymoon.

Both of them expressed the importance of "getting out of [their] comfort zone", despite age.

"The use of adventure can benefit women like me, with perimenopause, or men like Mike with new hips," said Langley-Wathen.

"Its for everybody."

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