Sunderland boy believed to be youngest ever person to complete Coast-to-Coast walk

Ollie Sainthouse from Ashbrooke completed the fortnight trek from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire.

Not only has this catapulted him to national attention, he is nearing 20 times the £500 sponsorship target he set to raise funds for the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS).

The Hill View Infant Academy pupil has always loved walking, but was inspired to support GNAAS after seeing them perform a rescue.

Ollie has a little sister, Jennifer, two. With parents Rachel and Paul, all four family members had an emotional reunion in Robin Hood’s Bay. The youngster later appeared on BBC Breakfast with his parents to talk about his adventure.

Ollie told the BBC’s Sally Nugent that the near 200-mile walk had not been a problem, despite having to traipse an average of 10-15 miles each day.

Meanwhile, at the time of writing, his fundraising efforts have so far brought in £8,500 for GNAAS. The helicopter service does not receive government funding and needs to raise £8.5million a year to maintain its life saving work.

Paul, who accompanied his son on the walk, said: “As regular walkers in the mountains, Ollie and I are very aware of the risks and how possible it could be that one day, heaven forbid, we like many others may require the services of this amazing service.

“On one of our early wild camps, we witnessed one of these incredible rescues and it really helped Ollie to appreciate the need for caution and careful planning whilst out adventuring.

"Consequently, this seemed like a natural choice when considering who to support through this daunting challenge.”

Sunderland AFC mad Ollie’s challenge will be documented on a YouTube channel called Ollie’s Dadventures and he’s already set his sights on walking the Pennine Way with Paul next year. He has also so far conquered 45 of the 214 Wainwrights – Lake District peaks of over 1,000ft.

Rachel told the Echo: “He was desperate to do this big challenge. We thought it was pretty much impossible, but we said yes and he’s just kept going.”

You can still contribute to Ollie’s incredible fundraising efforts via his JustGiving page.