AN American opera singer attempting to sing his way along one of Britain's toughest walks is standing firm despite the impending blizzards.

David Pisaro, who is bringing the hills alive with the sound of music, admits he is struggling with his walk, but is determined not to let the elements beat him.

Pisaro, 28,who lives in Middlesbrough with soprano girlfriend Emily Smith, is tackling the coast-to-coast path from St Bees, in Cumbria, via the North Pennines to Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire.

Yesterday, he was roughly half-way through his 200-mile trek, and said: "This is so much tougher then I expected it to be, it is so difficult, but it's my own fault so I'll just have to keep going.

After a daily trek of about 20 miles, the tenor stops off each night to perform Franz Schubert's The Winter's Journey in pubs and farmhouse parlours.

He said: "The performances have been going okay, but I am so tired that they are not as great as they could be."

Pisaro, 28, originally from Buffalo, in New York State, is studying for a music MA at York University and hopes his marathon trek will attract new audiences to classical music.

He will complete the trek on Saturday.