THE original Olympic spirit is to be re-ignited as a campaigning peer tackles an epic trek from the birthplace of the games to London to encourage warring countries to observe a truce.

Lord Bates of Langbaurgh is determined to make The Olympic Truce – London 2012 a lasting legacy of the Games by attempting to get countries to take the initiative seriously.

On Good Friday, the former Langbaurgh MP sets off from Olympia, in Greece, to walk 3,500 miles through 17 countries to London.

The Olympic Truce is also backed by a United Nations resolution, which urges all 193 member states to abide by its ruling but, according to Lord Bates, there is little evidence of it being adhered to.

He said: “It is a good cause and I hope that it will manage to pressure the Government into observing the truce and that will be a great achievement.

“All member states sign up to it, but do nothing about it. I’m saying that it is a UN resolution and should be taken seriously.

“It would be a great legacy for the London Games to be the first in the modern era to observe the truce.”

The Ancient Games started in 776 BC and were held every four years for nearly 12 centuries. The truce was sacred and violations were extremely rare and punished by suspension from the following Games.

However, since the Games restarted little more than a century ago, the event has been cancelled three times because of war and has been the target of terrorist attacks on two occasions.

And Lord Bates believes it is time to take the truce seriously again.

He said: “There are currently 30 conflicts going on around the world and it would be good to see some initiatives taken seriously in places such as Sudan, Somalia and Libya.

“The truce doesn’t suggest that we lay down our arms in Afghanistan and put our troops’ lives at risk, but the truce can be seen as a gesture to at least observe a ceasefire during the Games.

“I am hoping to meet up with parliamentarians and politicians as I walk through the 17 countries, some such as Kosovo and the Balkan states have had their own troubles recently, to try to get them to start their own initiatives to support the truce.”

His walk starts on Friday, as a testament to the Good Friday Agreement, which brought a lasting ceasefire to Northern Ireland.

Those interested in following Lord Bates’ progress can log onto walkfortruce.org