A NORTH Berwick teenager and her friend saw their French exchange trip cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic – so they decided to travel the equivalent distance at home in aid of a homeless charity.

Eva Morton, 14, and her friend Aine Sandilands, from Bonnyrigg, were due to go to Nantes in north-west France this summer on the trip organised by their school, Edinburgh’s George Heriot’s, and its French department.

After the trip was cancelled, the pair decided to run, walk and cycle the equivalent of the distance from Edinburgh to Nantes, a total of 1,389.6 kilometres – just over 863 miles.

Eva and Aine started their challenge on July 1 and aim to conquer the distance during their summer holidays, before the pair start third year of school next month.

They have so far completed about 400 kilometres.

To complete the distance on time, they need to average 12 kilometres a day.

They are raising money for Social Bite, a charity that provides food, support and employment to people affected by homelessness.

Eva, who lives on North Berwick’s St Margaret’s Road and attended Law Primary School until P6, said: “We are missing this trip but people out there are missing a lot more.”

They initially wanted to complete the challenge for the NHS. Eva said: “We thought about doing it for the NHS because they are suffering and doing a lot at the moment but we couldn’t find a general NHS one, there were different ones focusing on different things.

“We then thought of what kind of thing can help people and then thought of the foodbank and then thought on one providing food and help to homeless people and came up with Social Bite.”

The idea for the challenge came from Aine and her parents, who later asked Eva if she would be interested in getting involved.

Most of the distance has been and will continue to be completed separately as the pair live in different towns.

Eva said she had been out on cycles and had been encouraged along the way by her dad Nigel.

However, Eva and Aine have planned to meet up and complete longer distances together and have also planned to complete the last few kilometres together.

Some trips, holidays and events that have been cancelled during the pandemic have been rescheduled.

However, Eva said she did not think her and Aine would be able to go on their trip, which would have seen them go to a French school and experience different parts of French culture.

Eva said: “I was really looking forward to it, it’s a shame.

“However, there are bigger problems in the world at the moment.”

The pair have already doubled their initial target, having raised about £1,000 so far.

As well as family and friends, teachers at George Heriot’s have also donated.

Eva said: “I am really surprised. I didn’t think we would raise that much so quickly.”

To donate visit justgiving.com/fundraising/eva-aine-nanteschallenge