Veterans and pub landlord walk for Poppy Appeal

Two veterans and a pub landlord have set out on a 300-mile walk to raise money for the Poppy Appeal.

Landlord Dave Cooper, army veteran Leighton Lucas and former navy serviceman Dermot Rogers set off on their journey on Wednesday morning.

They plan to walk over Dartmoor and Exmoor on the Two Moors Way (30 April – 6 May), along the Tamar Valley on the Tamara Way (8 – 14 May) and from Falmouth back to Ivybridge, via the South West Coast Path (17 – 23 May).

One of the group is insulin dependent while between them they have been through three heart attacks and two open heart surgeries.

But that has not stopped them from embarking on the challenge, which they dreamed up in Mr Cooper's pub, The Exchange in Ivybridge.

Mr Rogers said: "It was Dave who said to me after a couple of pints one evening, 'I'm thinking of doing something really big, the South West Coast Path'."

"I explained to him that it was 630 miles long and that if we could do it in a month he'd be some kind of Olympic athlete!"

Mr Cooper, said: "Eccentric, crazy, ambitious - I didn't know what I was really letting myself in for.

"Coming from the Midlands, we don't have the undulations that there is down here in Devon."

He added: "As Dermot said, we had a couple of beers - and thought it would just be a great idea."

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