Neil completes 42 mile Across Wales Walk

Our Regional Manager for our Mid and North Wales offices, Neil Cardigan, recently completed a 42 mile walk in one day across Wales.

The 45-year-old started from Machynlleth and walked to Shropshire as part of the Across Wales Walk challenge.

He said: “The Rotary Clubs of Newtown Llanidloes and Machynlleth come together each year to organise this event. While it is not a race, it certainly is a challenge, and one I am extremely proud to have completed. I had great fun during the walk and it has given me some good training for future charity fundraisers I am planning.

“Although walking this distance in one day is unusual, a short walk every day has huge health benefits and at Abacare we always encourage our service users to keep as active as possible. Hopefully I can give them some inspiration.”

The walk was the brainchild of the late Bernard Wakely who was Principal of the Montgomery College of Further Education in Newtown (now NPTC Newtown Campus).

As the walk increased in popularity and numbers grew, administration of the walk passed to others.

The Rotary Clubs of Newtown, Llanidloes and Machynlleth took up the idea in 2005 and the first of the new series of walks was held in 2006.

Over the years, a series of small changes have been tried but the distance has remained at 42 miles.

A landslide forced a route change in 2016 with the result that the walk has a new start point and is now shorter. The measured distance in 2016 was 41.4 miles.

Peter Angelides, Our Managing Director, said: “It’s always great to see the fantastic things our staff members get up to in their spare time. We think it’s super important they have hobbies and passions outside of work and we’d like to congratulate Neil on completing the walking challenge. We’re sure this is not the last challenge we’ll see him taking on.”