COMPLETING the Coast-to-Coast Walk is enough of a challenge for most - but John Phillips was given a little more to do when he set off on his 180-mile charity trek.

Friends promised to double whatever he raised to fund research into Parkinson's Disease if he could get his picture taken with a bull, a policeman, a man in a flat cap, a whippet and a celebrity.

As he now lives in Greece, 37-year-old Mr Phillips was not able to prepare in advance.

However, soon after his arrival in the UK, one call to the Richmond Tourist Information Centre was all it took.

Senior assistant Tina Coates was soon on the phone to the Greenwood family, of Walburn Hall, who could help with the bull, and the flat cap, Richmond's Lorna Peers who supplied Trudy the whippet, North Yorkshire Police which dispatched PC Tim Heath, and Mark Reid, author of the Inn Way walkers' guides, who stepped in as the celebrity.

"Tina was so helpful and everyone was so keen to help me," said Mr Phillips, who grew up in Wiltshire.

Ms Coates said she was delighted to be of service: "We try our best to ensure all our visitors get maximum enjoyment from their visits. Requests for help are quite common, although not as bizarre as John's."