Mental health campaigner's 200-mile walk with pony

A campaigner is to walk 200 miles across five counties with a pony to raise awareness of rural mental health problems.

Roger Sewill, 60, will start his journey from his childhood home of Charlwood, Surrey, on 15 October and finish in Dorset, where he now lives and has raised a family.

The trek through Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset, ending near Sherborne, will take him approximately two weeks, walking up to 15 miles a day.

“The main aim is to draw awareness of where people can go for help. Often people don’t know how to find help if they need it," he said.

Mr Sewill will be walking on ancient rural pathways, including routes through Winchester and Salisbury, with a Dales pony called Scarlet.

“She is a rare breed of pony, bred for carrying weight across the Pennines, so is very sturdy - an old-fashioned farming horse," he said.

“Scarlet walks slower than myself, partly because she eats along the way, but horses are in the moment.

“Walking with them gets you to focus on where you are and what is around you. You see things differently."

At the end of each day, Mr Sewill and Scarlet will stay in a local landowner's field, which he arranged by walking the route and door-knocking.

“The welcome I have had, for me and Scarlet - people offering a field or stable to stay in - is just overwhelming," said Mr Sewill, a land agent and rural planner.

The father-of-three is also a trustee of Countrymen UK, which helps people who become isolated due to poor physical or mental health.

“This walk is a way to say there are charities out there that can help you," he said.

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