A MONTH-long campaign to encourage people to complete a fundraising walk while celebrating Yorkshire's landscape has smashed its target in five days.

Welcome to Yorkshire and Yorkshire Cancer Research launched the Tour de Walkshire on May 1, with a month-long £50,000 fundraising target.

In just five days the target was achieved and the event’s aim is to now reach £75,000.

The Tour de Walkshire encourages people to share images of their fundraising walks on social media and has even gone global, with multi-award-winning actor and proud Yorkshireman, Sir Patrick Stewart, tweeting from LA to his 3.6m followers: “This fundraiser will make my beloved Yorkshire even lovelier.”

Further global fundraisers have signed up from countries including California and Iowa in the US, as well as in Austria and Germany.

Juliet Glendinning of Yorkshire Cancer Research, said: “It’s been amazing to see so many people, from all walks of life and all parts of the county, getting active, clocking up the miles and enjoying the beautiful scenery we have here in Yorkshire.

"We are immensely grateful to each and every person who has dedicated time and effort to raising funds to help save lives in Yorkshire – sometimes battling heavy rain and hail to reach their goal and inspire more sponsorship.

“We’re thrilled that this incredible Tour de Walkshire community has managed to reach and exceed the charity’s initial £50,000 fundraising target in such a short space of time."

People can still sign up for the campaign here