PORTSMOUTH (England), May 18: Many Premiership footballers are getting their beach towels and sun tan lotion out of storage as they jet off to exotic locations across the globe to relax after a long, hard season in England. But Portsmouth defender Linvoy Primus and his West Bromwich Albion pal Darren Moore are gearing themselves up for a summer holiday of a different kind — a charity walk across the Great Wall of China.

Primus and Moore, who became friends while playing together at Portsmouth, will spend five days trekking across the famous landmark along with 12 other volunteers in a bid to raise money to build a school and medical centre in a rundown part of Nigeria.

The gruelling hike has been organised by Faith in Football, the religious charity set up by Primus and Moore to help needy children across the UK and provide support for Christian projects around the world.

Primus, 31, told AFP he had no hesitation about swapping five-star hotels and sun-kissed beaches for two-man tents and a pair of hiking boots.

“It’s quite funny because all of the other lads have got their holiday brochures for Tenerife and Cancun and I am off walking the Great Wall of China.

“I don’t mind giving up my summer holiday, though, because this is a fantastic cause. It is too easy to take things for granted when you are a Premiership footballer, earning a lot of money and doing a job you love,” added Primus, who like Moore is a born-again Christian.

“This is going to be a very difficult challenge and some of the walking will be pretty tough but it is the sort of project that captures peoples imaginations.

“The aim of this trip is to use football and religion to spread God’s message and to bring happiness to people who are less privileged than ourselves.”

Primus and Moore will walk eight hours a day and cover almost 230 kilometres of the Great Wall, starting in the village of Houchan near the Chinese capital Beijing and concluding at the ancient city of Gu Bei Kou.

The pair have spent the last two summers carrying out missionary work on the back streets of Goa and India and hope to raise 50,000 pounds from their latest mission.

Primus, who turned to religion after a knee injury threatened to end his career in 2002, added: “The work we did in India was a real culture shock. Some of the conditions people were living in were beyond belief.

“Everyone has seen the pictures on television but you do not realise how bad things are until you see them through your own eyes.

“This walk is going to be pretty tough but our motivation is to help the people we have seen over the last couple of years living on the streets and not knowing where their next meal is coming from.

“Since I found religion my career has gone from strength to strength. I won promotion with Portsmouth and am playing in the best league in the world. I owe it all to God and want to give something back.”

The walk gets underway on May 23 and Primus and Moore’s progress can be tracked by logging onto the website www.chinachallenge.org.uk.—AFP