A 75-YEAR-old man completed a gruelling 22-mile walk from Bangor’s Garth Pier to Llandudno Pier in aid of a North Wales hospice and a South African pre-school project.

Dr Ashok Harshey, who spent more than 20 years working in the obstetrics and gynaecology department at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, left Garth Pier at 8am with a couple of friends, met some others at about midday at Llanfairfechan, before arriving at Llandudno Pier at 5pm.

A longstanding member of the Rotary Club of Llandudno, Ashok raised more than £770 to be shared equally between St David’s Hospice, which offers free palliative care to adult patients across North West Wales, and Ilitha School in Cape Town, a pre-school project which the Llandudno Rotary Club has helped support.

It was the opposite of Ashok’s fundraiser last year, when he did the same walk in reverse on August 15, 2020 and raised roughly £1,400 for Hope Restored, a Llandudno charity, and Ilitha School, in doing so.

He said: “I enjoyed it a lot; it’s a very well-built path, so there were no problems at all.

“It was really worth it. The weather was so good this time; last year it was very hot, but this year it was really nice and cool.

“We have been supporting St David’s Hospice every year by one means or another, and we have a good relationship with Ilitha School, so for about four or five years, we have been involved with them and contributing something to their school.

“I was introduced to walking by Llandudno Friendship Link, a walking group. I’m a member of (walking group) Ramblers, and we’ve got our own small group, so I’ve done some long distance walks on all the (North Wales) mountains.

“For charity, I’ve done at least 10 walks so far since I joined (Llandudno Rotary Club, in 1997). It’s normally about 10 to 12 miles when we go on a mountain hike of Snowdon, or anywhere in North Wales, every weekend.”

You can find out more about Ashok’s challenge and the Rotary Club of Llandudno, as well as finding a link to his donations page if you would like to add a contribution, by visiting: www.rotary-ribi.org/clubs/page.php?PgID=849319&ClubID=1111.

The Rotary Club of Llandudno was founded in 1927 and forms part of Rotary International - a global network of service volunteers.

Formed in 1905, it is the world’s largest service organisation, with 1.2 million members operating in 35,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and territories world-wide.

There are 45,000 Rotarians in Great Britain and Ireland in nearly 2,000 clubs.