A LOCAL retired policeman has raised more than £17,000 for two charities by walking 2,000 miles on the pilgrim routes of Europe.

Roger Mechan has been taking on long-distance walks since 2011 to raise money for St Luke’s Hospice and Help for Heroes.

Earlier this year he ­completed the gruelling 600 miles of the Camino

de la Plata, from Seville in the south of Spain to the ­pilgrim destination of Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, north west Spain.

Roger completed the more common pilgrim route the Camino Frances along the north of Spain, from the Pyrenees to Santiago, in 2011. In addition, he has hiked 200 miles through the Cévennes in the south of France, 220 miles along the country’s Nantes-Brest canal, 150 miles from Porto to Santiago and 400 miles along the South West Coast Path.

In between walks, Roger spends much of his time collecting for the two ­charities around his local towns. A recent collection in Ivybridge raised £224, with Roger saying the ­people of Ivybridge have always been ‘incredibly kind in donating’.

Roger explained why he chose St Luke’s in ­particular for his incredible fundraising efforts.

‘I have a friend – who’s a real fighter – who was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer,’ he said. ‘He was told he had a few months to live 18 months ago, but he’s been fighting to live and just refuses to go. St Luke’s have given him fantastic care.

‘The number of people who tell me how good St Luke’s were for their family or relatives is incredible.

‘They have to raise £4.5m every year from donations alone and have one of the highest conversion rates of any charity in the UK, with 86p in every pound going to patient care.’

Roger set off from Seville in April and faced some tough times on his latest walk.

‘The night before I left Seville there was a huge thunderstorm,’ he related. ‘It turned the path into a complete mudbath.

‘However much preparation you do, the first day’s always really hard and my boots weighed twice as much from the mud.

‘Then the rain stopped and it got incredibly humid – that was a hard day.

‘Another day I miscalculated and ended up walking close to 50k in one day in temperatures up to 38 degrees. You only make that kind of mistake once.

‘But one of the milestones was when I got to Salamanca on my 68th birthday and was able to open the card from my wife. I took the day off for that.’

Roger revealed that he hopes to become the oldest person to walk from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

‘The record is currently 74,’ he said. ‘So on May 1, 2022, I’ll be setting off from Land’s End. Some 80-year-old will probably do it first.’

For more information on Roger’s exploits, visit just giving.com/stlukespilgrim.