THE family of missing walker Philip Blake, 79, are widening their search to the Forest of Dean.

The Cheltenham pensioner has apparently disappeared off the face of the earth while walking the long distance Offa's Path trail.

No trace of him has been found since he was last seen approaching Hay Bluff.

His family are hoping he may have suffered a loss of memory and returned to the Forest, an area he has known and frequented all his life.

"He loved Gloucestershire and was a regular visitor to the Forest. He visited the area regularly and would walk up to 15 miles a day. It is our hope that if he has fallen and hit his head or suffered a memory loss he may have returned to the area," his daughter Mrs Elaine Jones told the Review.

They hope he may have retraced his tracks and returned to Monmouth and then the Forest.

Mr Blake was writing a book on walking and in the manuscript makes frequent references to the Forest and walks throughout the district.

Mrs Jones said her father was "fighting fit" and had been looking forward to the Offa's Dyke challenge. He was well equipped and had planned the walk meticulously.

Mr Blake was dropped off at Chepstow by his son Richard on Saturday May 11.

That day he walked to Monmouth and spent the night there. He enjoyed a large breakfast and the following day walked to Pandy.

He was carrying a mobile telephone and made a call to a guest house in Hay on Wye where he planned to stay on his third night.

Conditions for walking had deteriorated badly and he was last seen by another walker on the approach to Hay Bluff.

By early that evening he had not telephoned his family and a major search was soon underway. Helicopters joined in and a mountain rescue team walked the path he would have taken but there has not been a single trace.

"He had taken £200 in cash and three cheques. Everything has gone through or minds, from the worse thoughts to hoping he has suffered a memory loss. Had he done so and become confused we feel he may well have returned to an area he knows well and that could be the Forest of Dean," said Mrs Jones.

"The police say that if he was on the mountain they would have found him. We can only hope he has somehow returned to Gloucestershire," she said.

•If you have any information telephone 01633 838111. (Incident number 543 May 13).