Phoebe Smith and Dwayne Fields

Two adventurers are about to embark on an Antarctic-style expedition – down the length of Britain.

Dwayne Fields and Phoebe Smith will pull wheeled sleighs on their 1,300km (800-mile) trek from Dunnet Head in Scotland to The Lizard in Cornwall.

The pair hope to highlight wildlife conservation projects and environmental initiatives en route and also crowdfund for a planned expedition to Antarctica for underprivileged people.

Ms Smith, who last year walked and rough slept across Britain while dressed as Wander Woman, to highlight youth homelessness, said: “For different reasons we feel underrepresented in both the media and society when it comes to showing what an adventurer looks like and where they are from.”

Mr Fields said: “I was always told black people just didn’t do this kind of thing, that I shouldn’t follow this path because, after all, no-one else like me was doing it.”

While growing up in east London he said fell in with the wrong crowd where he was confronted with gang violence, but he found his escape in the outdoors. Since then he has walked to the North Pole and, last year, along with Ordnance Survey, led a group of underprivileged young people to the top of Ben Nevis in a Street to Peak programme, after which several of them went on to gain employment and pursue their own adventures.

The two adventurers said they are tired of seeing lists of the ‘top adventurers in the world’, which don’t represent diversity or acknowledge the need to open up the outdoor for everyone.

After constantly being courted by media who say they wanted to change the image of adventure but never followed through, they said they decided they needed to take action themselves. They set up #WeTwo and are embarking on the first in a trio of special missions.

Ms Smith said: “We’re going to walk from the seabirds at Dunnet Head – the northernmost point of mainland Britain and end at The Lizard, the true southern tip of the country.

“It’s a journey of around 1,300km, which is the same distance we intend to cover in Antarctica itself the year after.”

Her #WeTwo companion said: “Throughout the expedition we will connect with Scout groups and schools in underprivileged areas so that the children can see what we’re doing, can ask us questions and see with their own eyes that anyone no matter what their gender, their upbringing or their colour they too can be an adventurer.”

Phoebe Smith said: “‘It’s not about planting flags; it’s about planting seeds’ is the #WeTwo motto and when we get back from the Antarctic expedition, in 2021 we will be taking a group of underprivileged young people to the white continent by expedition ship to create the next generation of ambassadors – for adventure, for wildlife and the environment through our #WeTwo Foundation. It’s our aim that #WeTwo will eventually become #WeToo.”

Dwayne Fields and Phoebe Smith will leave Dunnet Head on Tuesday, and are aiming to have completed the trek by 1 January. They will be doing it on foot and roller skis and pulling their equipment in specially made wheeled sleighs, named Walter and Wilma, to mimic an Antarctic expedition.

They will be asking people to come and walk sections with them and consider donating to their crowdfunding site.

They pair are travelling by train to Scotland and from Cornwall and will be planting trees to offset the carbon produced in their journey to demonstrate responsible adventuring.

They are both ambassadors for the Scouts and Ordnance Survey. Ms Smith is president of the Long Distance Walker’s Association.

They will post updates on social media via the @DwayneFields and @PhoebeRSmith and @TeamWeTwo accounts, using the hashtag #WeTwo.