TWO friends are taking on a four-day challenge to raise money for a children’s hospice.

Childhood friends, Ryan Hodd, 23, and Billy Kewley, 24, are walking 132 miles from Bournemouth Pier in Dorset to Hastings Pier in East Sussex.

The duo are undertaking the challenge to raise money for a children’s hospice called Chestnut Treehouse.

Chestnut Tree House cares for 300 children and young adults, up to the age of 19, who suffer from progressive life-shortening conditions.

Ryan and Billy are currently doing their walk and hope to reach Hastings Pier on Sunday afternoon.

Billy said: “We haven’t got lost yet so that is good, Ryan did promise me that it would only be pavements, but we do seem to be in bog land at the moment.

“We started to walk together between the first and second lockdown and one day we walked 25 miles together.

"Friends and family said we should try and do something for a charity if we are going to do those sort of distances.

The Argus: Billy Kewley (left) and friend Ryan Hodd (right) are walking 132 miles from Bournemouth to Hastings.Billy Kewley (left) and friend Ryan Hodd (right) are walking 132 miles from Bournemouth to Hastings.

“We started to try and get involved with some local charities and we came across Chestnut Treehouse and saw some of the work they were doing, and it really moved us.

“We put the two together, this is a really good personal challenge for Ryan and me and it is coupled with some fundraising for a really good cause.”

The pair from Hastings have already beat their original target of £1,000.

The challenge continues until Sunday and the pair have already broken the £4,000 mark.

Ryan said: “We are really grateful to everyone who has donated, we managed to smash our target in only three days.

For some people, spending four days with your friends can be quite a strain.

But for these two, it has not looked that way so far.

Ryan said: “A lot of people said to us that conversation would surely dry up in the first two hours, but that has not been the case.

“We have been friends since we were 11 so we have plenty of content to get through.

“At times we have even been belting out some absolute bangers like Neil Diamond and Pointer Sisters.”