Neighbours from El Chaparral take on 100km Nerja-to-La Cala de Mijas walk for rescue dogs and donkeys

Seven friends from El Chaparral in Mijas are lacing up for a four-day, 100-kilometre slog along the Costa del Sol, all to put money in the bowls of two much-loved local animal charities. Calling themselves the Chaparral 7, they leave the Balcon de Europa in Nerja at 10am on Tuesday November 10 and expect to hobble into La Cala de Mijas between 3pm and 4pm on Friday , November 13. More than €11,000 is already in the pot, to be split down the middle between ACE-SHIN and Donkey Dreamland.

What started as one man’s idea has turned into a proper neighbourhood job. Shaun Duffy, 60, had planned to go it alone. Six neighbours piled in, and a mate is flying over from the UK to make up the seven. A local resident even designed and donated the campaign website free of charge.

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Four days, three overnight stops, one long coastal path

Day one runs from Nerja to Torre del Mar. Day two is the long haul into Malaga city centre. Day three pushes west past the beaches and marina towards Torremuelle in Benalmadena. Day four is the last push into La Cala de Mijas. Nights are booked in Torre del Mar, Malaga and Benalmadena.

Shaun, whose family has campaigned for animal welfare since 1982, has been building from 6km morning walks to 12km as November gets closer. “The animals don’t have a voice,” he says. “They need us.”

Dave Platt, 61, from Mijas Costa, already volunteers at Donkey Dreamland and sees the vet bills first-hand, especially after extra donkeys arrived from Mijas Pueblo. “I didn’t give the distance much thought. It was the causes that made me volunteer.”

Who is walking and why it’s important to the community

Rob Jones is in because he thinks every animal deserves a safe home. Janette du Monceaux, 66, is the only woman in the group, runs 40km a week and has spent a lifetime with rescue dogs. Husband Patrick, 73, has triathlons, half marathons and an Everest Base Camp trek on his CV; old joints are being managed in training. Lars Evans, 67, from El Faro grew up on a farm and is already doing 15km walks. Steven Penny, 70, admits he is no regular walker: “100km is a pretty daunting prospect. But bring it on.”

ACE-SHIN (Animal Care Espana / SHIN) in La Cala de Mijas is a no-kill refuge that has taken in tens of thousands of dogs and cats since the late 1990s. It currently looks after hundreds of animals with no council grant and monthly running costs that run into tens of thousands of euros. Euro Weekly News has covered that squeeze before, from Fabienne Paques’ long fight to keep the shelter open to community fundraisers and open days.

Donkey Dreamland, founded by Amaya Isert, gives retired and rescued donkeys a life off the cobbles and out of pain. Monthly costs sit around €4,500 for feed, vets and upkeep.

How to chip in before they set off

Donations and route details sit on the team site at chaparralforgood.com. Direct giving pages for the two charities are at ace-charity.org and donkeydreamland.com/donate. Anyone who cannot give is asked to share the page. For the dogs and donkeys waiting in La Cala, every extra euro and every extra share counts.