A Norwich pensioner and eight friends have set out on a slow but steady walk across Norfolk to help deprived children.

On Monday Mark Chapman, 76, started a 54 mile trek along the Weavers Way from Great Yarmouth to Cromer in aid of Hope and Homes for Children.

Mr Chapman a retired Foreign Office diplomat who lives in Norwich city centre, will be walking six miles day and he hopes to arrive in Cromer on October 15

The slow moving charity walkers have already faced soggy conditions as they rambled along the Weavers Way through Breydon Water, past the Berney Arms and across the Halvergate Marshes.

However the plucky slow moving group have the prefect weapon to cheer themselves up at the end of every day's walk - a warm friendly pub and refreshing pint or glass wine.

Before the walk the route was scouted out to make sure the group finished by a watering hole and some of them even had the unenviable task of making sure each establishment had a good stock of beverages.

The two week long walk has been organised by Mr Chapman and he has been joined on his trek by wife Pat.

The other walkers are Sheringham vet David Allison, the former headteacher of Easton St Peter Primary School Hilary Kisby and her husband John, Andrea Iveson, Bruce Ellis, Alan and Angela Quinn. They will be joined en route by Joan Green and Margaret Abbott.

They are all members of the Norfolk support group for Hope and Homes for Children.

Mr Chapman said: 'We hope we reach Cromer with as many walkers as we set out with. After all we are not spring chickens.

'Because none of us are getting any younger we have set ourselves a pace of about six miles a day.

'Watering holes along the route have been scouted and the ales sampled.'

Mrs Kisby, 64, and from Drayton, near Norwich said: 'Walking six miles day after day is bound to be hard. I have already got soaked.'

Hope and Homes For Children was set up in 1994 by Beccles-born retired British army Col and UN commander Mark Crook and his wife Caroline after they visited an orphanage in war-torn Sarajevo.

Beth Naughan, a spokeswoman for the charity, said: 'The Norfolk support group have been really good fund raisers over the years and this walk shows their dedication to us.

'I hope they do not get too many blisters or sore feet.'

Mr and Mrs Chapman can be sponsored by visiting www.justgiving.com/weaverswaywalk

Alternatively donations can be made straight to Hope and Homes for Children by calling the charity on 01722 790111 or visiting www.hopeandhomes.org