When Write Out Loud caught up with him – by phone – he had walked 50 miles in four days, and was about to perform in his fourth show. Benjamin Guilfoyle, aka the Woolly Hat Poet, or at the moment the Wandering Poet – was soaking his feet in a bowl of salty water after walking 17 miles that day, before his gig at the Old Courts in Wigan that night. 

Guilfoyle, a performance poet and early years teacher, is traipsing more than 110 miles from Lancaster to his home town of Brighouse in West Yorkshire to raise money for the Lancaster Children's Library and the Lancaster and District Homeless Action Service. He is appearing at poetry nights along his cross-Pennine way to raise funds – 12 shows in 12 days. So far he has read at Lancaster, Garstang and Preston,  and after tonight’s Wigan show, is still due to read at Bolton, Prestwich, Salford, Oldham, Littleborough, Hebden Bridge, Halifax, and Brighouse.

How has the walking been so far? “My feet really hurt,” he said after Friday’s trek. But he was determined to look on the positive side. Although it had often been “blisteringly hot”, he insisted: “I couldn’t ask for better weather.” The day before, filming himself walking, he said: “My legs feel like I’ve just bought them, like I’ve never used them before. This is how babies feel, I imagine, when they’re just learning to walk.”

Benjamin is asking for audience members to put him up for the night during his journey. On Thursday night he was staying with fellow poet George Melling, who was reading with him at Wigan, along with Louise Fazackerley. 

Of his own poetry, he said: “It’s very down to earth, rhythm and rhyme.” The performance poet has just put together a poetry collection, and rewrote some of his poems so that “they work on the page as well”.  

He added that the two causes he was supporting were seriously underfunded, especially Lancaster’s homeless shelter, which recently lost its lottery funding.  If you want to support Benjamin but can’t get to one of his gigs, you can donate via his JustGiving page.  

Tonight’s gig at the Old Courts in Wigan starts at 7.30pm in the Bailiffs Bar, with open mic as well. On Saturday the Wandering Poet will be at Bolton Central Library, then Prestwich Central Library, Salford’s Eagle Inn, Oldham’s Central Library, Littleborough’s Ebor Studio and Gallery Frank, Nelson’s Wine Bar in Hebden Bridge, The Book Corner in Halifax, and St Martin’s church in Brighouse.

PHOTOGRAPH: GARRY COOK