by Aaron Sharp. Published Tue 24 Aug 2010 10:49

 Brothers Mike and Tom Baxter abandoned their attempt to trek across Britain with a donkey… when the beast refused to go on!

The pair aimed to travel 153 miles from Liverpool to Hull with a donkey and no money in a bid to establish whether Britons are still generous to strangers.

But they managed to coax their rented donkey “Fergal” for on 70 miles and even then it took them more than twice as long as they had planned.

The “Two men and a donkey” challenge was abandoned in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.

Schoolteacher Mike, 28, and recruitment consultant Tom took a route along the Leeds-Liverpool canal and said they were disappointed to abandon their goal.

But the brothers declared their argument settled after they found a warm welcome everywhere with generous people prepared to give them food and lodgings.

Tom, 31, said: “What we learned was that British people are very kind and open. We have been humbled by the generosity we encountered.

“We had a few blisters but we were game to carry on to the end.

“However, by the time we got to Hebden Bridge, Fergal was making it clear that he’d had enough and just stood his ground and we could not budge him.”

The trio had managed seven days and nights without having to spend a single night under the stars, but called-up a horse box and returned the donkey to his North Wales home.

Father-of-four Tom, told how that journey had included menaces near its start and ended in memorable last night.

He said: “Everyone was generally really good although most of them wanted to feed Fergal before us.

“We had one nasty experience when we encountered a yob on the canal bank who shouted at us saying ‘I’m going to cut your donkey’s head off!’

“It was not a pleasant experience, but then, on the last night a couple who were on a barge holiday let us stay on their boat.

“We found Scousers were generally the most friendly and accommodating people you could ever hope to meet.”

The Baxter brothers said that on reflection they thought unemployment was the biggest problem facing people in the north.

Mike said the number of people they met who ‘just wanted something to do’ came as a shock.

Mike said: “We were helped along by all kinds of people, but most of the ones we spoke to were out of work and just looking for something to keep them occupied.

“We met many young lads who would walk with us for ages, just because they were bored.”

The pair plan to complete their odyssy next year – with Fergal – this time starting on the Yorkshire coast.

Tom said: “We’ll do it the other way around next time.

“We’ll plan more rest-stops for the donkey and and we’ll take some money along so we can occasionally help people, rather than them helping us all the time.”

The pair raised £983 for The Stroke Association.

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