‘How tough to be a wounded veteran - so much much harder than anything I have had to face ever in my life’ says adventurer Rosie Swale Pope as she embarks on her latest charity challenge.

Seventy-year-old Rosie, who lived in Tenby for several years, is now running in Britain, from London to Brighton, for the Pilgrim Bandits charity which was established by a small group of Special Forces veterans in 2007 with the sole aim of using their unique training and experience to help and inspire wounded soldiers to live life to the full.

Rosie begins the challenge today (Friday) from the cenotaph in central London on what was the eighth anniversary of the conclusion of her five-year epic journey around the world for prostate cancer after it claimed the life of her husband Clive.

Despite a broken wrist, Rosie says she will be doing the challenge ‘very very slowly’ with Slick Chick, her trusty cart on wheels. Her previous Ice Chick cart remains in American.

“Then hopefully I’ll be going back to Texas in October as I would love to run from Albany to Dallas Fort Worth for the DAV - Disabled American Veterans,” she says.

“I will be supporting both of these wonderful charities in my heart on both my forthcoming little runs. The Atlantic is not a barrier - just a beautiful ocean to fly over or to sail across.”

Rosie continued: “One minute men and women in the forces are making a difference in often impossible situations - saving lives and putting their own lives on the line for the country and people everywhere, the next they have been injured mentally or physically or both and then they get patched up and they’re expected to be glad to be able to sit in a wheelchair and watch daytime TV just cope with the pain - that’s not right.

“Recently, I have had a broken wrist, absolutely nothing compared to what disabled veterans go through, yet I’ve had to ask complete strangers to tie my shoelaces and I’ve had to learn to do unmentionable things with my chin even pushing a pencil with my chin! Even Houdini would have been surprised.”