A GUARLFORD pensioner must know the Malvern Hills like the back of his hand, because after 18 years of hiking he has tackled every single private path, along and around their peaks.

Former Baptist minister, Edward Williams, aged 83, retired to the Malvern area in 1997 and he immediately bought himself an Ordnance Survey Explorer Map and began to highlight each and every path he walked.

Mr Williams said: "I realised, a little while ago, that I had highlighted almost all non-private paths on the Hills themselves: the ones that are above the encircling roads, such as those from Little Malvern Priory round North Malvern to British Camp, and equivalent roads, tracks and paths as far as the Southern end of Chase End.

"By saying 'non-private' I include little black dotted lines, as well as the green ones for official rights of way."

Mr Williams realised that he was on the verge of an amazing hiking achievement, and one that may be unique

He said: "I set myself to search out and walk the remaining fragments of paths, and now I have completed this. I wonder how many others can claim to have walked every path?"

Having seen so much of the Malverns, over the years, Mr Williams finds it "difficult to say" which section is his favourite.

He said: "The Ragged Stone area used to be, but there are so many different paths. I just love walking."

Until recently, Mr Williams was tackling " a couple of walks every week" on the Malverns, even in winter.

He admits "to a few slithers", in icy conditions.

But his worst accident came about through a tobogganing accident, when he was visiting the Malverns with his family and someone on a sledge crashed into him.

"I did a complete cartwheel," said Mr Williams.

At the time, Mr Williams was a Baptist Minister in Birmingham and he managed to drive back home, not realising that his right leg was broken.

Although he has seen so much of the Malvern Hills, in so many seasons and conditions, one ambition remains for Mr Williams.

He believes that, due to an atmospheric condition call "atmospheric lensing", on a clear winter's day it should be possible to glimpse the Brecon Beacons over the top of the Black Mountains.

Usually the Black Mountains obscure the Brecons from the Worcestershire Beacon vantage point, but Mr Williams has calculated that, due to atmospheric lensing, which can cause light refraction, this may not always be the case.

Mr Williams still hopes take a picture of the Brecons from the Malverns, and his encouraging calculations are likely to be correct because, for many years, he taught physics at a school in India.