Residents joined the mayor of Portland for an almost two-mile walk from Underhill to Tophill today in protest at the closure of a pharmacy.

As previously reported in the Echo, the walk was organised to protest against the closure of the Boots Pharmacy in Fortuneswell on February 17.

Meeting at The Gatehouse Surgery at 10.30am, the march followed the route that an Underhill resident receiving a prescription would need to take to get to the pharmacy in Easton on foot.

Including walk marshals, around 20 people took on the almost two-mile uphill trek. Some residents who could not make the ascent met the walkers at the Gatehouse to wave them off.

Boots CEO Sebastian James had been invited to attend but was not present.

Mayor Carralyn Parkes donned her mayoral chain for the ascent and gave a speech at the end.

Dorset Echo: Route takenRoute taken (Image: Google Maps)

The pharmacy is one of just two on the island of 14,000 people. News of the closure has worried residents, who do not believe the Boots in Easton will be able to handle demand, and that the hill poses a geographic obstacle for some.