Last updated at 15:11, Monday, 26 November 2012

THREE decades after completing his first Keswick to Barrow, Richard Woodhouse, 69, has been bitten by the walking bug again.

For the past three years he’s travelled from his home in Maidstone, Kent, bringing teammates from Northampton and Cardiff with him.

“It’s a lovely opportunity to come back to the area,” said Richard, who first came to Barrow in 1975 to work in the planning department of Barrow Town Hall.

“In the planning department was a chap called Colin Phillips and he is a very keen walker, and he might have done the walk since the very beginning.

“He’s done it more than 30 times and it was very difficult not to get roped in.

“All the time I worked in Barrow, we did the K2B walk each year as the Town Hall team.”

A few years ago Richard decided to return for the Keswick to Barrow and completed his 20th walk this year.

He said: “With a bit of a difference in age I resumed it with a couple of friends. We all thoroughly enjoyed it – and survived it and have done it for the last three years.

“The nature of the walk has changed so much over the years. You meet a lot of people who don’t come from the Furness area.

“When I first did it, it was very much a Barrow thing. These days it’s much more organised. People come from all over the country.”

First published at 16:16, Friday, 23 November 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk