Challenge is no walk in the park
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A KEEN walker joined a couple on the local leg of their national challenge.
Help for Heroes Moray and Highland co-ordinator Dianne McLeish was about to start her own walk when she heard that retired couple, Martin and Maureen Shipley from Derby, were about to pass through Forres on their 3861-mile traverse around the British coastline to raise funds for charity, Thrombosis UK.
Dianne is doing the 1000 Mile Challenge, which encourages people to walk for an hour-a-day to get fitter and achieve an impressive total.
She said: "We have a social media page where people are encouraged to advertise their walks. I had written a post about my walk to Hopeman when someone commented that Martin Shipley was walking in the area. I was keen to walk some of the way with him so that he wasn't walking alone and that I could help him on his way."
Dianne met Martin at Benromach Distillery and they walked to Nairn together.
She said: "We talked all the way and we had a great day getting to know each other before I presented him with an a badger badge - a badger meet is when two or more 1000-milers get together - to remind him of our meeting. After 13 miles of walking on the roads, my hips were painful as I am more used to walking on the beaches so I totally respect what he is doing as he does this every day."
The Shipleys' 37-year-old daughter Dawn died of a Thrombosis when she was 33 weeks pregnant, leaving her three girls without a mum. Dawn's organs were donated.
Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system which can lead to death.
On February 14, the Shipleys set up sponsorship page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/teamshipley and set off from Robin Hood's Bay on the coast of North Yorkshire, intending to travel around the mainland coast and return by October 25.
Martin said: "I've read a number of accounts of people walking the coast of Great Britain which inspired me to think I could do it. My wife will join me at 11 points and walk for a total of 1000 miles. We're staying in B&Bs. My average daily mileage is 15.2 miles, with no rest days."
