Making it big

Day 39 was a big one: 21 miles over the Southern Uplands, with over 1,400m (4,500') of ascent. The Southern Upland Way deserves to be better known; it is well marked, with good going underfoot, hardly any fallen trees to climb over, and wonderful extensive views, from Ben Lomond in the north to Skiddaw in the south, and from the Tweedsmuir hills in the east to Arran in the west. It does involve a lot of up and down, and our biggest hill was right at the end - there was some muttering among the crew, but mutiny was averted with the issue of rations of Scottish tablet (like fudge but grainier, and gave us the sugar rush we needed to get up the last hill).

If we were giants and had appropriately sized clubs, we could have enjoyed a game of golf from the tee on Lowther Hill with the biggest golf ball (aka radar station) we've ever seen. However by that time we were more interested in getting our boots off and inhaling the meal that Clive had prepared for us. Track of the Day is "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" - neither high mountains nor low valleys (from which one had to climb out again, as the crew were not slow to point out) kept us from getting to him.

But the big news of the day was a fantastically generous donation from someone who had lost a relative to MND. With that and others, we've taken our funds raised to over £18,000. It's marvellous that our walk is inspiring people to give in this way, and the news was as effective as the tablet in boosting our energy levels.