AFTER organising funerals all week, undertakers could be forgiven for wanting to spend their days off coffin-free.

But one group of funeral directors did the opposite at the weekend, carrying a coffin on part of a 40-mile hike across the North York Moors.

About 45 members of the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) completed the Lyke Wake Walk, from Osmotherley, near Northallerton, to Beacon Howes, near Ravenscar.

The word lyke means corpse and the walk derives its name from the Cleveland Lyke Wake Dirge, which was sung at funerals in the 17th Century.

The walk dates from when the bodies of monks were thought to be carried across the moors for burial in Whitby.

On Saturday, NAFD members completed the walk to celebrate the association's 100th anniversary and to raise money for charity.

The quickest walkers took 13 hours to complete the course. The last few finished in about 20 hours.

Some carried a symbolic coffin over the last two miles of the walk.

NAFD president Nigel Lymn Rose said: "Given its historic links to the profession, the Lyke Wake Walk has to be the ultimate adventure challenge for undertakers.

"There was actually a group raising money for Macmillan Nurses and a group raising money for the Great North Air Ambulance walking at the same time, so there was a bit of a connection there.

"I think there will be a few people suffering with sore feet and legs today, but there was really a tremendous feeling of camaraderie along the route."