Botham plans 11th charity walk

Ian Botham has unveiled plans for his 11th charity walk to raise funds for Leukaemia Research and the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Botham, who has walked 6,500 miles to raise more than £8m on previous treks, and even led a herd of elephants across the Alps on one occasion, will walk for nine days from October 8 to 17, stopping off at Belfast, Glasgow, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and Cardiff.

Botham's last walk took place in October 2003, when he walked 210 miles across Wales to raise more than £300,000 for a new children's hospital. He said at the time that would be his last such walk but, having turned 50 last November, he is in no mood for retirement just yet.

Andrew Flintoff is expected to join Botham for at least part of the way, although with England's Champions Trophy campaign getting underway on October 15, there may be a conflict of interests.

Botham himself had no doubt where the team's priorities would lie, however. "Freddie and the England boys will all be coming along," he said. "Freddie will be doing more than one town and we hope to involve a number of the other players in their home cities.

"A lot of guys from the rugby world, the cricketing world and a few friends from showbiz will also be taking part."