Isabel Hospice’s Life President Barbara Doherty is preparing to tackle the latest in a series of long distance walks that stretches to 2,000 miles over 24 years and has raised £70,000 for our charity.
Barbara and her sister Jill McArthur will set off on their latest trek of the 73-mile Ribble Way on Tuesday (June 22nd) – as they have done almost every year since 1997.
They will be following the River Ribble along the beautiful Ribble Valley, traversing Lancashire and North Yorkshire.
Impressively, the sisters – both retired nurses – have more years to their names than the number of miles they will walk over the eight-day challenge as Barbara is 78 and Jill is 74!
They were due to do the walk in aid of the Hospice last year but it was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. It was only the second year since their first outing, the West Highland Way in 1997, that they have not tackled a trek.
In that time they have clocked up 2,000 miles – usually averaging 12 miles a day – and raised £70,000 for the Hospice.
Barbara said: “Over the years we’ve walked the West Highland Way, the Coast to Coast, Pembrokeshire Coast Path, Hadrian’s Wall, South Downs Way, Pennine Way South, Dales Way and many more paths criss-crossing England, Wales and Ireland.”
The longest walk they have completed is the 192-mile Coast to Coast walk from the Irish Sea at St Bees in Cumbria to the North Sea at Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire, passing through the national parks of the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors.
Barbara said: “I hope people will sponsor me in this challenge to raise much-needed funds for our amazing Hospice so that we can give that vital care to patients and their families.”
To donate online, go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/barbara-doherty1. Their target was £1,000 and they already have £1,500.
