The Bogle Stroll started in 1961 when a group of UMIST lecturers missed the last bus home in Lancaster and decided to walk the 55 miles back to Manchester. Along the way some of the group started to hallucinate and saw the Bogle (a Lancashire imp of folklore) , in their imagination the Bogle was taunting the walkers, willing them to give up. It is in defeating the Bogle that the event gets its name.

The event is still based at the UMIST Students Association (now the University of Manchester Students Union) and takes walkers to Manchester Airport, Stockport, Failsworth, Farnworth and Salford. Still a 55 mile stroll and still an exceptional challenge.

My close friend Peter Redshaw has done many events (some really painful) with me over the last 15 years and now it's time I return the favour, although I am thinking I may regret it having seen the weather forecast!