Mandi walked 98 miles of the Offa’s Dyke Path Walk to raise money for Age UK DacorumMandi walked 98 miles of the Offa’s Dyke Path Walk to raise money for Age UK Dacorum
Mandi walked 98 miles of the Offa’s Dyke Path Walk to raise money for Age UK Dacorum

Hemel Hempstead woman walks 98 miles to support Age UK Dacorum

Age UK Dacorum works across the borough to improve the quality of life for older people

A woman from Hemel Hempstead walked 98 miles of the Offa’s Dyke Path Walk to raise money for Age UK Dacorum.

On Sunday, July 4, 63-year-old Mandi Tattershall set off on her seven day challenge to complete part of the walk that crosses the border of England and Wales.

She set a £200 target for Age UK Dacorum, and has raised £220 - the money raised will help the charity provide its services and activities to older people and their carers in the community.

Mandi, who spent six weeks training for the challenge, said: "I wanted to do something out of my comfort zone and I've never done a long walk before so I thought this would be a great opportunity.

"And I thought it would also be a good way to raise money and awareness for Age UK Dacorum.

"My mum and dad lived with me for about eight years and Age UK were fantastic and gave us lots of information and I thought this is my chance to support them and push myself to do this challenge.

"There was a lovely lady from Age UK Dacorum called Anne that used to ring my mum regularly to find out how she was doing and was there anything she needed.

"Age UK Dacorum also support those with Dementia and my friend who I am walking with has a mum with Dementia.

"Without these charity services there would be no meaningful support for our elderly."

The 63-year-old completed the walk with her partner Mike who she described as her motivator and her friends Sarah and Steve who helped with nutrition and navigation.

Mandi said: "It as been an incredible journey. It was a real hard slog of a walk and it was difficult to take in all the wonderful views.

"We have been lucky that we have not had large amounts of rain though.

"There were definitely some parts of the walk that were a lot more challenging than others. Some of the days we were walking for eight to 10 hours.

"I was really pleased that I could do it and I hit my target, I also wanted to raise awareness of the work the charity does.

"I was grateful for the support and we all kept each other going, it was fun but really difficult."

To support Mandi's fundraising for Age UK Dacorum visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/amanda-tattershall1.

Scroll through our gallery to see Mandi's journey from Knighton to Prestatyn.

She set a £200 target for Age UK Dacorum, and has raised £220 - the money raised will help the charity provide its services and activities to older people and their carers in the community.