By Mal Butler
A 12-year-old girl walked 23 miles on Sunday, to raise more than £1,400 for Cats Protection.
Lyra Forster, of Limerstone, took nine hours to complete her trek from The Needles to Shanklin & Sandown Golf Club, fuelled by cheese sandwiches and a Yorkie bar.
Proud dad, Dan, who accompanied her on her marathon, said: “Lyra loves cats; we have two at home, Stripes and Paws. She reads The Week Junior Magazine and it was asking for children to ‘Fund-raise for a Better World’ and raise money for charity, so she decided to help Cats Protection.
“She designed her own fund- raising page and it went from there.
Originally, she was looking at raising £200 but decided to extend it to £1,000 after being given support from us and villagers, as well as her friends at Ryde School with Upper Chine.
“We started from The Needles and went up to the Tennyson Monument and Freshwater Bay Golf Club, then headed towards Carisbrooke and took the Red Squirrel Trail before reaching Shanklin.
“It was pretty hilly at the start, and there was a lot of mud and an uneven path when we were walking on a long stretch via Limerstone, so it was hard work. After about 15 miles Lyra was really tired, but things eased after we reached Carisbrooke when mum, Kirsty, was there with a change of clothes and we refuelled.
“By now, Lyra knew the end was in sight so she was able to carry on until the finish. Afterwards, she was quite achy but by Monday she was fine – although she wasn’t looking forward to a double games lesson!”
Her epic walk earned her an invitation to visit the Isle of Wight Cat Centre, with Dan adding: “The charity showed her around the centre, and explained to her what they do with money donated to them; she was really interested to see just how they operate.”
If you’d like to support Lyra go to iw.observer/lyra-walk.
Isle of Wight Observer