A FORMER Teesdale resident is hoping to raise more than £10,000 for a cancer charity and kids camp by walking from Land’s End to John o’Groats this summer, a year later than he had anticipated.
Kevin Dowson, who grew up in Copley, but moved to Derby in the early 1990s, had intended to marking his 60th birthday in May last year by attempting to walk the length of the United Kingdom in just 60 days, raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support and a volunteer organisation run close to his home, Derby Kids Camp.
The charity trek had to be put on hold last year when the national lockdown was imposed, but with restrictions now easing is planning to don his walking shoes on May 1.
He said: “We had a year when we just couldn’t do the walk, although I did think about doing it in September, but because it takes two months there would have been pretty bad weather.
“I now aim to complete the walk in my 60th year ending on August 8 and we’ve had to make some changes to the way I’ll walk because of the different dates in Scotland and England for restrictions easing.”
The biggest change he has made to the challenge is splitting it into two legs.
He added: “Instead of doing the walk in one go, I’m going to do it in two bits.
“I’ll start at Land’s End and head back to Derby to accommodate my Covid jabs. Then I will travel to John o’Groats and walk back to Derby again. We’ve altered the routes I’ll walk keeping off road and away from major town centres as much as possible.”
Even with the changes to the route his epic journey of 1,047 miles will mean he has to complete a gruelling 18 miles every day for two months.
Mr Dowson said: “I have completed charity treks in the past raising much needed funds for Macmillan Cancer Support, but this is my biggest challenge to date.
“It would be fantastic if I could raise £5,000 each for the charities. I don’t know if that’s going to be possible, but I’m going to try.”
No stranger to charity trekking, Mr Dowson started 17 years ago when he completed with the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, in Peru.
Since then he has walked some of the most stunning routes in the world, including the Grand Canyon in America, the Annapurna trek, in Nepal, and ascending the world’s highest free-standing mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania.
He added: “The last trek I did was Mount Kilimanjaro 11 years ago. This time I have planned to take 60 days and combine an on and off-road route taking in the John o’Groats trail, the Great Glen trail, the Pennine Way, the Heart of England Way as well as the Cotswold Way.”
For more information about Mr Dowson’s charity walking challenge you can visit his online fundraising page at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/kevin-dowson
