A little girl cares so much about the state of rivers and wildlife that she has walked more than 100 miles to Winchester.
Lauris Prince, aged seven, and her mother Hanna, 39, walked the South Downs Way from Eastbourne to raise money for the Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust.
Lauris is concerned about pollution in rivers and said: “Beavers are my favourite animals, so I want to make them happy by cleaning the rivers.”
Mother and daughter took ten days to trek the 110 miles in snow storms and minus temperatures. They finished at Winchester Cathedral yesterday.
READ MORE HERE: River pollution on Itchen at Brambridge
The family from Barcombe, East Sussex, enjoy walking, paddle boarding and wild swimming in the river Ouse at Barcombe Mills and want to use the money raised for river restoration to protect wildlife such as beavers, otters and wild birds.
As a way of combatting the sewage discharge, pollution and a poor water quality in the rivers their goal was to walk 100 miles in 10 days, starting in Eastbourne on January 6 and ending in Winchester on January 15.
With an original aim of £150 the pair have exceeded their target by hundreds of pounds as they hit over £500 on their last day of the walk. Donations have been coming in by friends, family and people they have met along the way.
Hanna said: “Lauris has been making handmade cards and giving them out to people who we have met on our walk, meeting so many lovely people and having lots of amazing conversation has helped us stay motivated, it’s become a social experience.
"It has been a really fantastic couple of days. After the snow settled we have had such nice sun, no rain, just cold days. It shows how lovely the South Downs can be if we don't plough and spray everywhere."
Help from Lauris’ father, grandmother Ginny Smith and little sister Sylvie, aged four (who joined the for two days) has kept them going with drop offs, pick ups from B&Bs and packed lunches along the way.
But also the help of Stringy, Lauris’ cuddly bunny, has been the mascot of their journey with her toy most of the time peeping out from Lauris' backpack or looking out from the front of her jumper.
For more information and links to Lauris' and Hanna’s just giving page go to https://justgiving.com/page/lauris-walks-the-sdw
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