Setting out on 1,000th walk

MHLC-12-03-13 1000 walks Mar53
Derek Harwood has been going on walks all over the UK and logging them for others to follow since 1968. He will be doing his 1000th walk in April, from Bubbenhall to Wappenbury and back, and to celebrate, he is raising funds for Myton Hospice and inviting others to join him. — MHLC-12-03-13 1000 walks Mar53 Derek Harwood has been going on walks all over the UK and logging them for others to follow since 1968. He will be doing his 1000th walk in April, from Bubbenhall to Wappenbury and back, and to celebrate, he is raising funds for Myton Hospice and inviting others to join him.

Derek Harwood has walked the length and breadth of the UK - and in a few weeks’ time he will be completing his 1,000th walk. To celebrate, the 67-year-old is using the event to raise funds for the Myton Hospices. He said: “My mum bought me an AA book of 205 walks from John O’Groats to Land’s End and it became my ambition to do them all. Then I just carried on.”

A member of the Kenilworth-based Midland Hill Walkers, Mr Harwood sometimes walks with a group but he often goes out alone - and he has logged every single walk so others can follow in his footsteps.

He said: “My favourite walk is in Rhossilli on the Gower peninsular. It’s about seven miles long and has a bit of everything - views, a very long beach with a wreck, a pretty village, two rocky outcrops and lots of sand dunes to clamber over.

“Once when I was near John O’Groats, I came to some rapids and was able to watch a whole load of salmon leaping. That was amazing.”

Mr Harwood is inviting people to join him on his 1,000th walk, which will be a five-mile route on Sunday April 7, starting at the Old School lay-by on the A445 in Bubbenhall at 11am. To sponsor him, visit www.mytonhospice.org/fundraising/your_fundraising_pages