{"id":1497,"date":"2012-04-17T16:25:14","date_gmt":"2012-04-17T16:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/p=?1497"},"modified":"2012-04-17T16:25:14","modified_gmt":"2012-04-17T16:25:14","slug":"ex-soldier-in-charity-dog-walk-for-vauk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/ex-soldier-in-charity-dog-walk-for-vauk\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-soldier in charity dog walk for VAUK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ex-soldier Martin Fletcher is looking to generate funds for the Veterans Association UK (VAUK) by performing a Land's End to John O'Groats walk with a difference.<\/p>\n<p>The 41-year-old, an electrical engineer who served in the Queen's Lancashire Regiment from 1987 to 1993, will traverse the famous nation-spanning route with his two dogs, the Lancashire Telegraph reports.<\/p>\n<p>It is anticipated that the 1,200-mile journey will see Mr Fletcher and the twin Rhodesian ridgebacks, named Jess and Tara, walking for a total of 67 days.<\/p>\n<p>The adventurer explained he chose the four-legged friends expressly for this purpose, noting: &quot;Their breed is known for endurance and agility. It'll be a lot more challenging to do it with two dogs.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Mr Fletcher and his companions will hit the road while carrying all of their own gear, with his backpack likely to weigh around 20 kg and the carrier pack harnesses transported by Jess and Tara coming in at around 10 kg each.<\/p>\n<p>Posted by Mark Wilkins<br> &nbsp;<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ADNFCR-2867-ID-801342048-ADNFCR\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.directnews.co.uk\/feedtrack\/justcopyright.gif?feedid=2867&amp;itemid=801342048\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Martin Fletcher is hoping to raise lots of money for the VAUK by walking from Land&rsquo;s End to John O&rsquo;Groats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-support-soldiers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - 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