Paul Davies, Assembly Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire, took a blindfold walk in Haverfordwest to support a Guide Dogs (www.guidedogs.org.uk) campaign to raise awareness of the challenges faced by people living with sight loss.

Mr Davies walked blindfolded with a long cane from County Hall to Bridge Street accompanied by Cathryn Stephenson, a mobility instructor for Guide Dogs. Pembrokeshire County Council Chair David Pugh and councillor Huw George also took a blindfold walk alongside local guide dog owner Yva Rich and long cane user Pat Farrar.

The Walk a Mile in My Shoes campaign aims to raise awareness of the obstacles and challenges blind and partially sighted people face every day as they go out and about in our town centres. The hazards they face often include tables and chairs on pavements outside cafes, badly designed pedestrian crossings and poorly parked cars that block the pavement.

Andrea Gordon, Policy Manager for Guide Dogs Cymru, said: "We're extremely grateful to Mr Davies for taking part in this event and we hope he found the experience useful in understanding how difficult it can be to get around if you are visually impaired. We're proud to work closely with a number of organisations in Wales to help blind and partially sighted people get mobile and we will continue to work to ensure they can enjoy the same freedom of movement as everyone else."

Mr Davies said: "It was quite a frightening experience. Once you put the blindfold on you lose confidence and you lose your bearings. It's important that politicians like me go through experiences like this so we better understand the challenges that blind and partially sighted people face."