THROUGHOUT May and June, kindhearted walker Ian Orrell (60) will take on the challenge of his life.

Ian Orrell, of Higher Lane, Whitefield, is walking 874 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats in a bid to raise £6,000 for the Emmaus homeslessness charity.

He has already passed halfway and was greeted by our reporter Dale Haslam when he passed through Bury.

In this regular diary, the retired teacher tells of his adventure.

Today, I walked from Knowle Green to Slaidburn and into the heart of Bowland.

In the morning, the road climbed past the Newdrop even higher to Jeffrey Hill from which you had spectacular views of the Lancashire coast.

In olden times, they used to hang Papists here - it was a rough area.

The lanes became increasingly quiet and I passed through a hamlet called Cow Ark. (Why is it called that?) on the way to Newton in Bowland. Along this road one gets splendid views of Pen-y-Ghent.

I reached the unofficial halfway point between LE and JOG at Slaidburn.

According to the barman, the Parkers Arms in Newton is the most central pub in the UK.

Dunsop Bridge is the most central village but doesn't have a pub.

Slaidburn is a mobile phone dead spot but an attractive village with a gory past for the Demdyke witches were once held at the Hark to Bounty pub in the centre of the village.

My next door neighbour returned me to Slaidburn on the Friday morning at 8am.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Slaidburn's Bentham Road, this is my type of country.

It is 12 miles of single track road with passing places over open moorland and the scenery is idyllic.

The morning was bright and sunny and I felt in fine fettle for the climbs ahead.

Lambs are just being born on the moors compared to our southern counterparts where lambing was over.

The rough pastures and fells were teeming with wildlife.

This morning, I did not see the famous Bowland Hen harrier or rarer Marsh harrier nor did I see any owls.

But I did see buzzards, oystercatchers, curlews and a woodpecker and I heard my very first cuckoo of the spring.

The whole journey was accompanied by skylarks flitting in and out of the heather and in the later stages by lapwings wheeling overhead protecting their nests.

The road rises to a height of 486m (1580ft) and, in winter, this poses extra dangers but the view this morning of Morecambe Bay and the Lake District hills was splendid.

A motorist stopped by me to and commented on the beauty of the scenery - she was from Thirsk and hadn't been along the road before.

Once over the tops, the scenery becomes more 'Sutherlandish'.

For those who love Sutherland you identify with individual hills as you would in North Yorkshire, with Gragareth, Ingleborough. Whernside and Pen-y-Ghent.

Four hours of idyllic walking between two important villages and just 30 cars.

That is my type of road.

To sponsor Ian, visit the link below.

Read parts five and six by clicking the links below.