ONE of the people who took part in a mammoth 90 mile charity walk from Enniskillen to Belfast has revealed how the arduous journey “broke us in two”.

Anita Maguire who was one of 16 BT employees who walked for 33 hours for Children in Need -- raising over £8,500 -- has said there were many “tears along the way”.

“We were not blessed with good weather at any stage which made the journey much harder as it meant we were wet for most of the 33 hours that we were walking,” explained Ms Maguire.

“The night time walk was horrendous as we were constantly beaten with wind and rain and also our bodies were rejecting food so we felt sick most of the time. Our mood dipped on many occasions and there were plenty of tears along the way,” she said.

Joining her were Aileen McCaffrey, Andrew Hamill, Anne McGovern, Caroline Spence, Catherine McCaughey, Claire Keenan, Joanne McCrory, Joe Byrne, Liam Brady, Michelle Slevin, Noel Kirkpatrick, Paula McGovern, Rod Perry, Seamus Wray and Theresa Leonard.

The group had plenty of support along the way with BT Ireland engineers, Dr. Grace -- described by the walkers as ‘Amazing Grace -- and a team of managers and advisers out in force.

“As dawn rose so did our spirits,” said Ms Maguire. “To see the traffic of Belfast and to reach a point where we only had 15 miles left was uplifting. The last 10 miles were slow and steady as we made our way through the pavements of Belfast city.” “School children would stop us and put their hands in their pockets and give us their change in appreciation of what we were doing which I have to say caused more tears - of joy. The walk broke us in two but we put ourselves back together much stronger people. Would we do it again? Absolutely -- maybe not next week though!” Ms Maguire described the challenge as “such a privilege” and added: “To know that the pain that we suffered on that trip is nothing like the pain suffered by the children and parents on a daily basis and that the money we raised will go some way to helping their lives.”