Fulwood grandfather John Farnden raised more than £500 for Rosemere Cancer Foundation when he became part of a 12-strong group of ‘pilgrims’ walking a 64 mile stretch of the ancient Celtic Way.

It took four days for 67-year-old John and his fellow walkers, who were all walking for a variety of different charities, to trek from Glastonbury to Stonehenge – a middle section of the way, which in full stretches from Strumble Head in Pembrokeshire to St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall and was a popular medieval pilgrimage.

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When the group reached Stonehenge, they were met by Mark Corney of TV’s ‘Time Team’, who talked about the route and gave a guided tour of the monument.

This is John’s sixth consecutive annual challenge for Rosemere Cancer Foundation.

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He said: “I found it hard going as there were lots of hills and the days were very long. One day, we walked for 21 miles. We had good weather though and the scenery was outstanding.”

“I will be 68 later this month but I am already making plans for my seventh challenge!”

John supports Rosemere Cancer Foundation in memory of his son-in-law Ric Clark. Ric died of stomach cancer in December 2015 aged just 35-years-old.

He left his bike to John, whose first challenge was to ride it from London to Paris.

He followed up a year later by cycling from Paris to Geneva before joining a Rosemere Cancer Foundation expedition to walk a section of the Great Wall of China in 2018 with his daughter and Ric’s widow Leonie.

In 2019, it was back on the bike to cycle from London to Amsterdam and then to Brussels. Last year, to mark what would have been Ric’s 40th birthday, John had booked a trek to Machu Picchu but that was cancelled because of the
coronavirus pandemic so instead, he walked the Guild Wheel.

Over the years, John’s challenges have raised over £7,000 for Rosemere Cancer Foundation.

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