A Tulse Hill teacher is going to trek from London to Turkey on horseback - despite only recently starting horse riding lessons.

Zena Fish, 29, who teaches at Jubilee Primary School, is doing the horse ride with her friend Becky Sampson, 24 from Putney, in aide of SOS Children, the world's largest orphan charity.

The pair, who formed Expedition Equus together, will leave London on horseback on August 5 and will make their way to Turkey, stopping at SOS Children villages along the way to help and give talks. Becky will then continue the horse ride to Tokyo alone.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the expedition leader and travel writer, and traveller Jason Lewis are both patrons of the trip.

The friends decided to make the trip about 18 months ago, when Zena had never even been on a horse. "I'd never had the chance to learn," said Zena, who lives in Crystal Palace Parade. "I thought it would give me the opportunity to learn and it's a different and environmentally-friendly way to travel, letting you see more and go at your own pace."

The trip to Turkey is expected to take about a year to complete and the pair will travel from England via France, Germany, Romania and Bulgaria, staying in tents throughout. The horses will be shipped over from England to France.

"The worst part will be getting out of London - we're still trying to find the best route," said Zena. "I only started horse-riding lessons in October and can now walk and trot. By August I should be able to cantor.

"My confidence has grown a lot - at first I was nervous because horses have minds of their own. Soon I'm going to buy a horse so I can bond with it before taking it on the journey."

Zena thinks the hardest thing about the expedition will be boredom and missing home.

"I think my parents think I'm crazy to do it!" she said. "When we told people about it they thought it was just a pipe dream, but now it's really taking off."

Visit justgiving.com/expeditionequus to sponsor the pair.