Jim Morton has come across his fair share of trials and tribulations while walking around the British coastline to raise money for the Gurkha Welfare Trust.
Despite falling from a cliff in Glenelg, being swept down a river in Cape Wrath and fighting howling gales along most of the north coast, the 61-year-old is still going strong.
He is now on his 228th day of walking after setting off from his home in Penistone, near Sheffield, on April 12, the day lockdown was lifted.
Mr Morton is ex Royal Navy and is raising money for the trust because the first ship he went out on was HMS Gurkha.
He has walked over 3,800 miles and has estimated that he has around 4,000 left to go.
Having encouraged his wife, Susan, to retire and join him on the adventure, the pair set off, him on foot and her taking their motorhome along the nearest roads so he could rest easy most nights.
‘What I was stood on just crumbled underneath me’
Despite being a keen walker, Mr Morton has faced new challenges on his latest adventure.
Speaking from his motorhome, which was parked up on a driveway in Nairn for the night, he remembered the day he fell from a cliff in Glenelg.
He said: “I was walking along and what I was stood on just crumbled underneath me. I didn’t get any warning, I didn’t have time to worry or panic.
“I woke up 20ft below, I don’t know how long I was unconscious for.”
He shouted for help until some young canoeists heard him. Their instructor was with the mountain rescue team for the area and was able to get help quickly.
Mr Morton couldn’t be reached by lifeboat as it couldn’t get close enough to the rocks, so he was winched off the cliff by coastguard teams from Inverness.
He was taken to Raigmore hospital and kept there for three nights with a bleed on the brain.
Luckily, he was soon ok to carry on with only a broken thumb and cuts and bruises to show for the fall.
He said: “I’m no dafter than I was before.”
Earlier this week, Mr Morton visited Scott Sharman, the winchman who saved him from the cliff, at the coastguard base in Inverness.
The brave man didn’t even call his fall the worst part of the journey, describing the Cape Wrath area as “the most difficult walking I’ve ever done in my life.”
He was left with soaking wet kit after being swept away in a river crossing, forcing him to spent an unscheduled night in a nearby lighthouse.
A lifelong dream
The idea to walk the whole way around the British coastline was not a spontaneous one. In fact, it has been brewing in Mr Morton’s head for 54 years.
He said: “This has been my lifelong ambition since I was seven years old. When I was in the forces someone beat me to it and I decided I wasn’t going to do it.
“But it was with me all my life and when I got to 60 I decided I was going to retire and I said to my wife ‘That’s it, I’m going to walk around the coast, I don’t care how many people have done it, I’m going to do it and raise money for the Gurkhas.'”
He has set himself a target of £50,000 to raise for the Gurkha Welfare Trust.
Along the way he is also raising awareness of the work they do, meeting groups at Kinloss Barracks and speaking to local Scouts groups.
The people over the places
Mr Morton said the hard parts of his coastal walk have been balanced out with the kindness he has been shown while on his journey.
He said: “It’s more the people we’ve met rather than the places. We’ve seen some lovely beaches but the people on the east coast so far have been fantastic.
“We’re staying on people’s driveways, they’re inviting us in for meals, we’re using their washing machines, plugging in our electrics. Generally the hospitality and welcoming from people has been amazing.”
In Inverness, he even got a photo on the football pitch with manager Billy Dodds.
Driving home for Christmas
The Scottish leg of Mr Morton’s journey has taken him longer than expected, with the west coast being like “playing snakes and ladders, two steps forward and one step back.”
With this in mind, he has altered his plans to ensure he can spend Christmas at home with his family and two new grandchildren.
He explained: “I’ve been very crafty, the motorhome needs repairing so it’s booked in over Christmas.
“We’re going to go home, get it repaired and we’re going to have Christmas at home seeing our new grandchildren.
“I hope to walk to somewhere near Dundee before then and we’ll come back straight after Christmas to continue from wherever we left off.”
Online donations can be pledged to Mr Morton’s fundraising for the Gurkha Welfare Trust here.