TWO horse riders will fill their pockets with sugar lumps to keep their transport fuelled up and raring to go when they do a charity trek this summer.

Mother-of-two Sarah Sowden and equine sports massage therapist Clair Woff will put their best hooves forward on Thursday, August 23 when they begin a sponsored horseback ride in aid of The Great North Air Ambulance Service.

Sarah, from Spennymoor, and Clair, from Witton-le-Wear, will ride their trusted steeds Sprout, 11, and Willy, 12, more than 100km between the GNAAS’s two bases in Cumbria and County Durham.

Their Base2Base trek will start at Langwathby, near Penrith, and follow old drover trails and ancient byways to Durham Tees Valley Airport and the GNAAS headquarters.

Their route should take five days.

The friends came up with the idea after several holidays exploring the Cumbrian landscape on horseback.

They said that once they had managed to get Sprout and Willy to get their hooves wet and cross the odd stream or two there was no stopping them.

Clair, 41, said: “Doing this ride is a natural progression combining a hobby we’re passionate about and a deserving charity that any of us may need at any time.

“We are really excited about planning the route and knowing that the effort is to support a very worthy and local cause.”

Sarah, 38, who will be cheered on by her sons Luke and Kyle, said: “It’s exciting that our idea is now a reality and we are going to be completing this challenge with our horses whilst raising as much money as we can for such a well deserving charity.”

Jamie Walsh, senior aircrew paramedic and training manager for GNAAS, said: “GNAAS covers 4.5 million people in the north of England covering a vast area from the Borders of Scotland to Yorkshire and from the east coast to the west coast.

“It costs just over £5 million to operate our two aircraft and we solely rely on fundraising and donations to meet this sum.

“Without these donations we simply couldn’t operate so please donate to keep our life saving service in the air.”

The duo hope to raise £2,000 and anyone wishing to make a donation can do so online at justgiving.com/fundraising/base2baseride

To follow their progress, search for Base2BaseCharityHorseRide on Facebook.