A NORTHUMBERLAND woman who was unable to complete a charity hike as she was isolating walked the 26 miles around her garden instead.

Heather Cowell, who lives in Ponteland, was due to walk the Macmillan Northumberland Coast Mighty Hike at the weekend.

But as she was isolating due to her daughter testing positive for Covid-19, Heather decided to rack up the miles in her garden.

"I'd already raised £450 worth of sponsorship so I thought I would just go up and do the walk another time," Heather said.

But when isolation boredom set in, she decided she would do the walk at home.

Although she hadn't set out to walk the full 26 miles, when Heather had walked nine miles, she decided she may as well continue.

Starting at 10.15am, Heather said she walked in figure of eights.

She finished at around 8.30pm, by which time she had walked over 63,000 steps.

"Between the 19 and 22 mile mark, I just felt like this is never-ending," she said.

"I was knackered and it was quite boring but I could at least say I helped my team."

The Mighty Hike saw participants walk from Alnwick Castle to Bamburgh Castle.

"I think I am still going to walk it [the route] at some point," Heather said.

Heather was due to do the walk with her colleagues, with whom she had previously completed the Lake District Mighty Hike with in 2019.

They decided to take part in the event to raise money for Macmillan as the charity has helped each of their families in different ways.

The group, 'Red Hot Ramblers', have so far raised over £2,300.

To donate to the group's fundraising page, visit https://justgiving.com/team/redhotramblers/