Jim Morton uses up a couple of his nine lives as he walks the north coast
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A former Royal Navy veteran will reach Caithness this week as he makes his way round the coast of mainland Britain in what can only be described as a very challenging walk set to cover over 7500 miles.
Sixty-year-old Jim Morton's journey so far has not been without drama – in August he spent three days in Raigmore Hospital after being injured in a fall near Glenelg, where the ferry comes in from the Isle of Skye.
The Sheffield-born veteran said: "I was walking along a path and it just crumbled – I woke up after being unconscious in a pool of blood. There was nobody about – I managed to wander round to the shore, luckily a group of school pupils were being taught to canoe. The instructor came across and contacted the emergency services."
Jim, who had lost a lot of blood from a cut on his head, was flown by helicopter to Raigmore. "When I got there it turned out I had a bleed on the brain," he said. "I have used up a couple of my nine lives on that one. What saved me was my rucksack."
As it was a warm day the veteran had most of his clothing in his backpack along with two litres of water which helped soften the fall, however he hit his head on the rocks and also broke a thumb. A couple of days earlier he had been delighted to survive camping out on the Knoydart peninsula.
Now into week 30 of his walk, completing over 3400 in 204 days, Jim has reached the north coast of Sutherland, arriving in Bettyhill on Monday.
He said: "I am walking around the entire coast of Great Britain to raise money for the Gurkha Welfare Trust."
While en route he is going to visit all the lighthouses around the coast, which has been his dream ever since 1967 when his dad got the Reader's Digest AA Book of the Road for Christmas.
The veteran is also going to climb the highest peaks in each country. He has already tackled Scafell Pike in England and Ben Nevis, just Snowdon left to do, possibly in the spring.
Setting off from his home in Penistone, South Yorkshire, on April 12, it took him three-and-a-half days to get to the coast at the Mersey, where he visited his first lighthouse at Hale Head.
Jim arrived in Scotland on May 9 and has only recently completed the west coast. His original route was estimated at about 7500 miles, but this may vary considerably depending on the detours he has to take.
It took him around 28 days just to get round the Isle of Skye. "I am only doing the islands attached by a bridge," he pointed out.
His last 1000 or so miles have involved walking through peat bogs and wading through swollen rivers, and he is finding the decreasing hours of daylight restricts the distance he can cover each day. He based his original target of 400 days on walking 20 miles per day and had hoped to finish next May, but that could extend to June.
"I am only managing about 15 miles a day now so it will take a bit longer," said Jim. "It is a shame I am not in Scotland in the summer – you have some stunning scenery up here. Some of those beaches would rival any in the Mediterranean."
During his walk from Shiegra, north of Kinlochbervie, through Sandwood Bay and on to Cape Wrath the going got quite tough for him.
Jim said: "I had a day off in Durness to recover from one of my worst ordeals – I got washed away in a river twice and everything got wet."
He'd planned to cover 12 miles on the first day of that part of the trip, however it ended up being an 18-mile trek. Fortunately he was able to stay in the bunkhouse at Cape Wrath to dry out. Usually he stays in a campervan being driven by his wife Sue, accompanied by their two West Highland terriers.
Last Friday Jim walked from Durness, to Loch Eriboll, then on Saturday he arrived in Tongue, while on Sunday he followed the north coast to Scullomie. On Monday afternoon he reached Bettyhill, rescuing a sheep from a bog along the way. Yesterday (Tuesday) he planned to make it to Armadale and head along towards Port Skerra and Melvich today, reaching Thurso hopefully on Friday.
The Royal Navy veteran has an interview with BBC Radio Sheffield, his local radio station, at John O'Groats on Monday morning.
Jim has set a target of raising £50,000 for the Gurkha Welfare Trust, and has already raised enough money to build one house in Nepal. Since the devastating earthquake of 2015 the trust has been working hard to rebuild homes for Gurkha veterans and widows across Nepal. So far they have built over 1500 homes.
Follow his journey on his Facebook page – I may be gone a while
Donations can be made on his JustGiving page which is under the name of Richard Morton.
