A Llanfyllin teacher has written a book about his experience running more than 800 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

Jon Doolan, a teacher at Ysgol Llanfyllin, spent 34 days in 2022 running from the most southern point in Britain to the most northern, from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

A few years on from the lengthy journey, Mr Doolan has written a book on his experiences, that saw him collecting jokes as he met people along the route, chronicling the route in his book, titled ‘Miles for Smiles’.

Having always dreamed of making the trek from one end of Britain to the other, Mr Doolan decided to make his journey unique by turning it into a ‘joke relay’, passing on jokes and puns to people he met as he ran the length of the country.

He said: “I wanted to do something memorable. I didn’t want to just run the distance. That would be a bit dull. So I thought, what could I do to keep myself occupied as I run along? What could I do that would get people to actually come and talk to me?

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“For a long time, I thought I would do it in fancy dress. A fairy outfit was a strong contender for a while, but then I realised that the tutu would probably chafe and the wings would be seriously annoying after a few hundred miles.

“And then my best friend, Harry, suggested I do a joke relay.

“It’s a perfect idea. Jokes don’t weigh anything, and I could pass a metaphorical ‘joke baton’ up the entire length of the country, watching the smiling faces of the jokes’ recipients as I went.”

He started his journey on July 15 and completed it just over a month later, chronicling his trek with daily vlogs and updates along the way taking a detour to pass through his home county.

His book covers excitement and mishaps of the almost 900-mile run, from the lows of almost giving up with exhaustion, shin splints and blisters outside an ASDA in Taunton to the joy of wild-camping on a hillside in the Lake District or appearing on a stand-up comedy stage in Liverpool.

Mr Doolan will also be giving a book reading at Welshpool Library on Saturday, April 20, from 11am to 12pm.