Walking 2000 miles and raising £22,000

Over the past few years Roger Mechan (aged 69), from Dousland, has walked 2000 miles along Europe’s pilgrim routes to raise funds for both Help for Heroes and St Luke’s Hospice. Roger  is a retired Policeman from Plymouth and to date has raised a combined total in excess of £22000, toward his target of £25,000. Next month and into June, Roger will add a further 500 miles to his log book by walking the coastal path that stretches from Bilbao to the Atlantic coast at Cabo Fisterra in Northern Spain, passing through the pilgrim  city of Santiago de Compostela  where it is said the remains of the apostle St James have been laid to rest.

After retirement Roger took up travel writing and photography, but soon needed to fill more of his spare time.  Wanting to take up a ‘relatively easy task’, his wife suggested he take himself off for a walk – she probably wasn’t thinking it would take six weeks!  Not to be deterred by a knee operation after his first epic journey, Roger is now in his fourth year of walking having previously completed three of the Camino pilgrim routes.  Roger chose these pilgrim routes due to the ease of navigation (Roger says he’s never used a map as the routes are clearly defined with markers) and the gentleness of the gradient.

This fourth trip will see Roger pass alongside the Picos de Europa Mountains and hugging the coast of the Bay of Biscay before spilling out into the Atlantic. The 35 day journey will take him near the ports of Ferrol and Corunna on the north-west tip of Galicia, places that have fascinating historical ties with our local area, as Roger explains.

‘If you thought Brittany Ferries were the first ships to take paying passengers to Spain then you may be surprised to hear that they were preceded some 600 years by ships that regularly left Plymouth to take pilgrims to Ferrol. From there they would walk the five days it took to reach the tomb of the Apostle St James, whose remains, it is said, lie in a huge silver casket in a crypt under the alter of the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela.  A scallop shell is the symbol carried by both ancient and modern pilgrims and a large gold painted version can be found on the wall of the car park in Lambhay Hill to commemorate Plymouth’s part in these voyages.

Now fast forward to Union Street 1898, when the Palace Theatre was opened. The façade then looked much as it does today including the two decorative panels above the main entrance, one depicting the Spanish Armada leaving Ferrol on route to invade England, and the other depicting its defeat.

Sandwiched in between these two events are the antics of Queen Elizabeth and Tavistock’s favourite son, Sir Frances Drake. In 1587 Drake laid siege to Corunna and so afraid were the church authorities in Santiago de Compostela that the remains of St James were at risk of being pillaged by him that they hid them. In fact, they hid them so well that for three hundred years they couldn’t find them, which led to a rapid falling off in pilgrims to the cathedral. ‘

When I asked Roger if he has or would like to undertake any challenges in the UK, he replied that he’d consider doing Lands End to John O’Groats but only when he is 75.  Why only at 75?  Because the oldest person to walk it, to date, was 74.   I sense Roger is just a tad competitive!

Roger funds all his treks himself, with every penny of donations going completely to the charities concerned.  So If you want to help him reach his £25000 target you can donate on-line for St Luke’s at www.justgiving.com/stlukespilgrim     and for Help for Heroes at www.justgiving.com/thepilgrim

Both sites provide links to blogs and videos of his previous treks which are well worth a look!

Lizzie Watt