24June–26 June: Glasgow, Ayr, Edinburgh

Did some storming walking over the weekend! On Saturday I went to visit my Gran and did 5 miles round about the Scottish Museum for Country Life.

On Sunday morning I got up early and did the longest stretch so far from Kirsty and Gordon’s house in Alloway, south of Ayr, up to Prestwick. Started at the 'Lang Scots Mile', so called because a mile in Scotland used to be 1,984 yards compared to just 1,760 in England. Anyone who suggests i run 500 Scots miles will not be popular... Running on the beach was easier on my feet and I did 13 miles all in.

And on Monday, I went for a walk/jog round Holyrood Park in Edinburgh which added another 6 miles. So just about on schedule with…

66 miles done, 434 left

(Sore feet now! Both feel funny in different places but I’m not sure whether the left one or the right one is worse!)

Thursday and Friday, 22/23 June: Linlithgow Hills and Forth Bridge

Took a couple of nights off: monsoons on Tuesday night the likes of which I hope I won’t see again until next May and a dodgy reaction to a Yellow Fever injection on Wednesday night.

Jogged 8 miles on Thursday night from Beecraigs Park in the hills above Linlithgow over to Torphichen. Came across the Scottish Korean War Memorial, stuck way out on the B8047. It looks – and probably is – pretty lonely and unnoticed.


On Friday, I took the train to North Queensferry after work and ran/walked 12 miles across the Forth Road Bridge and along the back roads to Linlithgow. The road bridge is hugely impressive when you walk across it – 1.5 miles long, and, standing in the middle, you can feel a fair bit of movement when trucks go past! Rail bridge looked pretty poorly, covered in bandages.

42 miles clocked, 458 left to go…

…which is back on track, but got my first blisters. I’m going to be following the advice of a book on walking which says that there is only one thing to do with blisters if you are in the middle of a long trek – take a needle, dip in boiling water…

19 June - Stirling and Loch Katrine

Cheers to Adam for a grand day out on Monday. Adam and I cadged a lift with a group of Egyptian teachers who are in Scotland to improve their English. The tour was run by Adam’s mum who has been doing cultural tours for a good number of years – there can’t be many jobs where you need to speak Arabic and demonstrate highland dancing on a moving bus.

In the morning, we did a circular
4.5 mile walk from the Wallace Monument to Stirling Castle. The walk took us past a number of important historical buildings, but for me 17 Lady’s Neuk Drive in Cambuskenneth (which you can see behind Adam and I on the left) was the highlight, being my home until the age of two! The picture on the right is 4 Ferry Orchard, just round the corner, which my dad built (My Da Built that House Ye Know!) before I was born. 35 years on and, unlike me, still looks in great condition - well done Dad!

In the afternoon we walked part-way round Loch Katrine for another 5.5 miles, so… 22 miles down, 478 to go.

Thanks to everyone who’s made a donation so far – I really appreciate it and though there’s a long way to go I am determined to get to 500 miles as promised.

PS Adam, Jo, Alistair and Freya are back from India for a 3 week visit. They are out in India for a few years, doing some amazing work in Thane, near Mumbai and they have their own blog – see the link on the right. (Jo – hope to see you on Sunday 2/7)
PPS I’d better mention this before Adam does - after the walking he gubbed me 8-5 at pool. Even Dad P's silky cue skills were no match for Black-Ball Black.

Off and walking

Made a start to the big walk today! Walked along the canal path from my house in Linlithgow to the Falkirk Wheel where mum and dad met up with me.

The canal path is nice and flat, which made for an easy start, but it does get a bit boring, except for short wooded stretches which can be really still and atmospheric.

Anyway, feel a bit weary now but still enthusiastic (!) and... 12 miles knocked off. 488 to go!
ON THE IPOD: Boy Kill Boy, The Kooks.

I’ve now got more details of the project I’ll be working on in Belize. I’ll spend 3-4 months drawing up a financial plan for a non-profit organization that “improves quality of life through the provision of a comprehensive eye service in Belize”.

The organization does brilliant and necessary work with visually impaired people, allowing people with visual handicaps to live full and successful lives, and educating people to better understand the difficulties faced by the visually impaired.

The charity has expanded over the years and now takes services out on the road to make eye care accessible to remote communities. Despite this good work, there are real concerns that the charity could lose grant funding in the future. Like all CWW projects, the intention is to build capacity and sustainability to allow local charities to work more effectively themselves and my task will be to develop a plan to ensure financial sustainability.

While project costs are kept to an absolute minimum – I’ll be staying with a local family who will put me up for 3 months and provide meals (I hope they’ll be forewarned about my appetite) – the cost of my placement will be £2,000-2,500.

So… with three months to go before I head out to Belize, I’m looking to do something ‘big’ to raise a bit of sponsorship money to help finance the project.

What I’m going to do is:

- walk 500 miles, as in the Proclaimers song…
- …over 10 weeks, starting this Sunday, 18th June and finishing about a week before I fly out to Belize;
- …without going the same way twice. So hoping to cover some interesting ground including The West Highland Way, the canal path from Glasgow to Edinburgh, round about John O’Groats and the route of the London Marathon.

–500 miles is… …almost 20 marathons… …Edinburgh-Calais… …2000 laps of a football pitch–

I’d be grateful for any donations, in person or on the CWW donations website:
https://cww.workwithus.org/Fundraising/Donate.aspx?page=497

I’m also grateful for support in general - volunteers to accompany me on short stretches of the walk would be welcome! (I already have a number of victims signed up.) or you could just post a cheeky message on the website.

Now I’m off to look out the Ralgex…