Restaurant boss Jim’s recipe for charity fundraising

Intrepid restaurateur Jim Trevor will be swapping his menus for maps as he takes on one of the world’s greatest mountainous treks for charity next year.

Jim (49), who owns The Beehive pub/restaurant off Bourges Boulevard in Peterborough, and the Six Bells at Witham on the Hill in Rutland, will spend 60 days crossing the Pyrenees mountains - all 540 miles of footpath, lanes and tracks along the border between Spain and France.

And joining him on the journey from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean will be son James, an economics degree student on a soccer scholarship at university in America.

Father and son (21) will set off on their epic European journey next June, and through sponsorship and a series of fundraising events already in the pipleline hope to raise more than £50,000 for the Make A Wish charity, which grants magical wishes to children and young people fighting life-threatening conditions.

Jim said: “ It is called the GR 10 route,which runs from Hendaye in the Bay of Biscay, Atlantic Ocean to Banyuls Sur Mer on the Mediterranean Sea, and I read about it years ago.

“It is regarded as one of the great walks in the world, though the French Pyrenees, and only a handful of people complete it each year.

“I have wanted to do it for years but it is difficult to find a friend who can take 60 days off work to do it.

“Then a couple of weeks ago James said he was sick of hearing me moaning about it and announced that he would do it with me.”

To put the venture into perspective, it covers 157,000 feet of ascent, which is equal to going up Mount Everest five times, or climbing up and down Mount Snowdon every day for 60 days.

Jim said the plan was to try to raise in excess of £50,000 for Make A Wish, a charity he has supported in the past because of the great work it does with children.

The charity has a local organiser but is huge in America, so while Jim is busy fundraising here, James will be looking to raise corporate money on his side of the Atlantic.

“One of the things we will do is to get Martin(Cox, head chef at the Beehive) and Ben (Poulton, head chef at The Six Bells) to come up with a mountain style dessert that can be sold at both places - with £1 going to the charity from every one sold up until the time of our departure ,” said Jim.

“We will also host a charity dinner at both establishments, with a menu drawing its inspiration from the route - Saint Sebastian in the east to Nice in the west - with many treats along the way.”

To sponsor Jim and James visit www.justgiving.com/jim-james-trevor