You’d have been forgiven for thinking it was the Benali countryside family holiday.

Ben, the family dog is roaming around, sandwiches are being served as a lunch time picnic and the general atmosphere is relaxed.

I had to remind myself that, on a sunny September Monday in the picturesque Cotswolds, Saints legend Francis Benali is nearing the final stretch of a three-week-long, 1,000 mile run around all 20 Premier League clubs.

It is all too easy to forget that the former Dell defender has been running 40 to 50 miles for 16 consecutive days on his own invented challenge ‘Benali’s Big Run’, as he tries to raise £1million for Cancer Research UK.

The 45-year-old was happy and chatty. I even spoke and laughed with him as I joined him on a brief jog as he approached his lunch pit stop.

What Franny is trying to achieve is absolutely staggering. What I joined up with a very serious organisation that is equipped with navigator and sports therapist – it’s a professional outfit keeping this incredible challenge going – but at the same time it just felt like a leisurely jaunt across the country.

But it is testament to Benali’s mentality that the whole event feels like a family occasion.

He’s taken his work ethic that he had during his career Saints and transferred it into his running. Always smiling and will never, under any circumstances, give up.

Benali’s high spirits is what makes this even more amazing. On the outside he is cheery and full of jokes, but on the inside is, clearly, a determined and unwaveringly commitment man, who will not rest until he has defeated this epic.

He started the day in Wales and ended it in Swindon – that was just one day of the 16 so far. At this point you can’t see how this challenge will defeat him.