IVYBRIDGE residents dug deep on Saturday, July 16 when they donated £240 to a charity collection held in aid of Help for Heroes.

The organiser, 69 year old Roger Mechan, has walked more than 2,000 miles to raise funds for Help for Heroes and St Luke’s Hospice, and to date has raised a combined total of £23,775. 

In May this year Roger set out from Bilbao on a sponsored walk along the coast of Spain to the Atlantic Ocean, but two days after starting out on the pilgrimage, he found out his wife had been rushed into hospital.

Roger said: ’I was striding it out towards Santander when the call came. I quickly had to turn tail and make my way back to the nearest airport.

‘The Spanish people I came across were very helpful when they found out what had happened and I had many offers of lifts, food and drinks. ‘Thankfully my wife has now fully recovered and I will be returning to Spain in September to honour the charitable donations that have been made in support of my walking exploits.

‘I fund all my own trips, so every penny donated goes to the charities.’

Roger will be undertaking a 200 mile trek from Ferrol on the north-west coast of Spain to an area on the Atlantic known as the Coast of the Dead, on account of the number of shipwrecks that have taken place there over the centuries. 

Roger added: ‘Ferrol, my starting point, has links with Devon in that it is the place from where the Spanish Armada set sail on their ill-fated voyage to invade England.

‘It is also the port that 12th century pilgrims arrived at, after sailing from Plymouth on their way to the shrine of the Apostle St James in Santiago de Compostela.’

You can support Roger, and see videos of his pilgrimages by visiting www.justgiving.com/thepilgrim for Help for Heroes, or www.justgiving.com/stlukespilgrim for St Luke’s Hospice.