Monday 16th March 2015 

Travel writer Hannah Stuart-Leach took a break from her 400 mile walk from Chepstow to Scotland this morning to visit children at Faith Primary School’s Magic Breakfast club in Liverpool.

Hannah, from Bristol, started her walk on 1st March, at Sedbury Cliffs, the southern end of Offa’s Dyke Path, and estimates it will take her between 30 and 40 days to arrive at her (so far unnamed) destination, 400 miles away in Scotland. She says it’s an “experiment in slow travel, experiencing my own country on foot, as our ancestors did. I'll stop when the GPS says I've travelled 400 miles north.” So far she has braved torrential rain and a blanketing of snow, but has seen some stunning sights and met some lovely people along the way.

Hannah is using her walk as an opportunity to fundraise for three charities, Magic Breakfast, Child Poverty Action Group and Alzheimer’s Society. Magic Breakfast delivers free, healthy breakfasts to schools where pupils would otherwise start their lessons too hungry to learn. The charity feeds 17,000 children each school day, in 430 partner schools throughout England, 17 of which are in Liverpool.

While they tucked in to their cereal, porridge and bagels, Hannah told pupils at Faith Primary’s Magic Breakfast club about her journey so far and explained about the importance of good nutrition in keeping her energy levels up throughout the day. Hannah lived in South Korea for 5 years and brought some dried seaweed, sauces and chopsticks with her to show the children what South Korean children eat for breakfast. She said they were not too keen on the smell!

Hannah said the children were very interested in her retractable walking stick and water holder, and were really keen to give her tips on the best places to visit in Liverpool. She said they, impressively, knew exactly where their school was on her map and was even offered a bed for the night at one child’s gran’s house in Formby.

Hannah: “It’s so nice to see that the pupils at Faith Primary School get so much benefit from their Magic Breakfast club, especially socially. Thank you to staff and pupils for making me feel so welcome. It was a great morning spent with a really friendly and interesting group of children”.

Dot Cunningham, from Faith Primary School: “Magic Breakfast has made a huge difference to the children at Faith Primary. It enables us to provide healthy, nutritious breakfasts to children and give them the best start to the day we possibly can. Huge thanks to Magic Breakfast to contributing to our school and allowing us to provide this facility for free”.

To get to Faith Primary, Hannah walked through Chester, to Birkenhead, then took the ferry to Liverpool. It was her first visit to Liverpool and she said she’s been really impressed. She is now on her way to Formby, joining part of the Trans Pennine trail in her continuing bid to walk 400 Miles North.