Highland walker Jo Page ‘feels fantastic’ after completing Land’s End to John O’Groats charity trek
A Highland woman who has raised more than £12,000 in less than three months by walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats says the experience has been a massive benefit to her physical and mental health.
Jo Page said it was “mind blowing” that she had covered the length of the country on foot and added it was still feeling a bit surreal after such a long journey.
The 48-year-old from Inverness completed 1130 miles over a total of 80 days – which included 73 days walking and just seven rest days.
She amassed around 3 million steps along the way, too, and said she felt fantastic and proud after she completed the challenge on Saturday.
After reaching John O’Groats, Jo said: “When I set off, I was never sure that I would 100 per cent make it because you never know what's going to happen with injuries. In my head I was never going to give up, but in my body I was worried that something could take me out like an injury, a sprain or just wear and tear on the body.
“But actually, it just got better and better. When I stopped taking days off, I just felt better and better and better.
“I feel fantastic, I really do. I've got into clothes I couldn't get into since 2019, which is mad. So I think it's really helped my health massively, as well as my mental health too.”
Jo set off from Land’s End on May 1 aiming to raise £10,000 to share between two charities, PCS Support UK and Scottish Mountain Rescue.
Her total was standing at more than £12,250 on Sunday morning with donations still coming in via her fundraising page at https://givestar.io/gs/jos-lands-end-to-john-ogroats-2025
Speaking on the John O’Groats Trail at Berriedale last week, Jo explained: “PSC Support UK support people that have got primary sclerosing cholangitis, which is an autoimmune disease that develops in the bowel ducts and affects your liver and other organs.
“My mum had it for 50 years, and she thought she was very lucky. Everyone's different, but it can lead to transplant or cancer, and unfortunately for my mum it did lead to cancer.
“And the second charity is Scottish Mountain Rescue. I'm a hill walker, I love walking the hills, and I constantly hear people say, you know, we could always call mountain rescue, and we laugh and joke about it, but I just believe it's something that we should pay forward because we never know when we're going to need help.
“Everybody's voluntary, and I just wanted to raise more awareness for people that do use the hills and to get them to realise that it is volunteers that are helping them, not an actual funded service.”
Jo said she had enjoyed many highlights during her journey, including scenic days walking solo at Dovedale and Malham Cove, as well as getting to know the “absolutely beautiful” east coast north of Inverness better.
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• Inverness woman reaches 1000-mile mark of Land’s End to John O’Groats challenge in memory of her mum
But she said it was a “magical day” when a group of walkers she had met along the way – now know as her LeJog family – got together near the start of the West Highland Way and decided to walk the rest of the way as a group.
“When we got to Drymen we were going to meet as a group of LeJogers, and then carry on the journey together further up the country, which I think was a very special moment,” she added.
The group of five finished their individual journeys as one on Saturday, just as the rain started to fall following a lengthy dry spell – although there had been a lot of mist during their walk on the latter stages of the John O’Groats Trail in Caithness.
She said: “It has been quite a journey, something that I didn't know what to expect, and I think it's one of those you don't know what to expect until you do it, and it's been incredible, absolutely incredible.”
Jo, who will be presenting a talk on her expedition at Tiso in Inverness in October, added that the kindness of people along the route had been “so phenomenal – just some strangers, from people I've met, from friends and family, and businesses that have supported me as well”.
“You know, it's just been mind blowing, absolutely mind blowing.”
• Hear more from Jo Page about her Lejog walk on the Active Outdoors podcast.
• Follow Jo on social media @nessielass