A woman with a desire to help others will walk 500 miles from Portugal to Spain in May to raise money for an international charity.

Paula Roberts, who lives in Armathwaite, is undertaking the mammoth walk from Lisbon in Portugal to Santiago in Spain via the Camino de Santiago and then onto Finisterre to raise money for the British Red Cross.

Her motivations for doing so are based on seeing everything that is happening in the world, particularly in the Middle East, and her desire to support the important work groups like the Red Cross are doing.

Paula said: "I think it's really important for us to know how lucky and fortunate we are to not live in a situation where there's significant conflict that makes everything really unfair.

"I feel really strongly about that, every little bit that we can do for others, it means such a lot because all those little bits add up."

This isn't the first fundraising activity that Paula has done, she has previously walked Hadrian's Wall for the Alzheimer's Society and did a challenge for MacMillan a few years ago. 

But, the Camino de Santiago is a massive undertaking and she will be walking around 500 miles in total when she starts her walk on May 29.

"Doing the Camino is something I've always wanted to do, so I just thought I'm going to combine the two, wanting to do the adventure and raise money at the same time.

"It's going to be a challenge, but I'm also very lucky because I'm going to get to see some beautiful places."

Paula anticipates that it will take five weeks to complete the entire walk but she isn't putting any limits on herself by trying to reach the finish line in a certain time.

She hasn't booked any accommodation along the way as she just wants to do it at her own pace.

"I'm not coming back until I've finished it, but if it takes me longer, it takes me longer," she said.

So far, Paula has raised £1,300 through sponsorships from local businesses as well as support from the community - however, she's hoping to be able to raise around £2,500 in total.

Anybody who would like to support Paula can do so via her JustGiving page: www.justgiving.com/page/paula-roberts-6