THE co-owner of a Wellington tea room is putting her best foot forward for Wellington Monument on a marathon walk later this year.

Nancy Powell-Brace, of Odette’s in High Street, is planning to walk from Cleopatra’s Needle on the bank of the River Thames in the City of Westminster to Wellington Monument.

The structures are the only three-sided obelisks in this country and the monument at 175ft is the tallest three-sided obelisk in the world.

Nancy, who will be 59 at the time of trek, will be starting her ‘Walk to Wellington’, on Friday, September 14.

The route will be along the Thames footpath to Reading where she will pick up the Kennet and Avon Canal to Bath. Aiming to cover 20 to 25 miles a day, and visiting National Trust properties along the way, she will head from there to Glastonbury, taking in the Tor, then pick up the Tiverton Canal at Bridgwater.

She is hoping friends and family will meet her in Wellington town centre at the end of the trek and walk with her to the monument, just as townsfolk walked together to the site for the laying of the first stone in 1817.

She will have back up from friend Craig Grantham in a car and will be joined by other friends, including Odette’s co-owner Victoria Osborne, and Nancy’s dogs at points along the route.

The walk is to raise money towards the restoration of the National Trust monument and awareness of its plight – the trust is promising to fund fliers to hand out along the way.

Nancy has a £10,000 fundraising target – to contribute visit her Walking to Wellington page on Facebook.