Six Royal Marine commandos will arrive at the War and Peace Festival today as part of their five-month, 4,000-mile trek through Europe.

They will turn up at the Folkestone Racecourse venue at Westenhanger at 2pm as they near the end of their gruelling journey of skiing running cycling, canoeing and sailing.

The men will be escorted by other runners from the Royal Marines Band Service and led by the world famous Royal Marines Corps of Drums.

The six, aged 19 to 33, are Capt. Sam Moreton, Colour Sgt. Richie Hayden, Cpl Tom Rounding, Cpl Anthony Fairclough, L. Cpl Matt Robb and Marine Tom Barber.

They are from outside Kent, mostly Scotland and the West Country.

The group leave Shepway tomorrow by marching from Folkestone’s Sandgate Road precinct tomorrow at 10am.

They will go past the town’s war memorial and down The Road of Remembrance and then run on to Deal where Royal Marines were based until 1996.

Their journey is part of the RM350 1664 Challenge to celebrate the Royal Marines’ 350th birthday.

They have travelled in stints of 1,664km (1,034 miles), reflecting the year of the founding of the Marines.

This has shown itself in a 1,664km ski across Norway in February, sailing the same distance in yachts to Cadiz in Spain and then cycling through Spain and France to reach the English Channel.

They then boarded kayaks and crossed the sea in 64 hours, arriving at Southsea, near Portsmouth, on May 22.

Since then they have run as much as 20 miles a day and intend to reach London, by Friday after again covering a total 1,664km.

Total distance covered will be 6,656km or 4,136 miles.

The last stint has involved being transported to a series of mini-routes for their runs, as far as Scotland and the West Country.

Their challenge is both to raise awareness of the Royal Marines’ centuries of service but also to raise money for the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund.

For tickets and further details visit www.thewarandpeacerevival.co.uk or call 01304 813 945 or 01304 813337.