The team at Culloden Battlefield are encouraging the local community to join them on a walk through history.
Two teams will attempt to walk more than 650,000 steps in six weeks in a bid to raise money to protect the historic site just east of Inverness.
Each team consists of three people, meaning the total of each team’s steps should be around two million, equivalent to 800 miles.
The challenge was designed to mimic the distance the Jacobites covered in 1745.
Raoul Curtis-Machin, operations manager for Culloden Battlefield and visitor centre, said: “The team here at the visitor centre and Battlefield are committed to covering the same 800-mile distance as Charles Edward Stuart did in the 1745 Rising.
“From landing on the Hebridean Isle of Eriskay, then raising the standard at Glenfinnan, he marched through Edinburgh and Carlisle, progressing as far as Derby, before turning back up north to make a final stand at Culloden.”
The challenge begins on July 23, the same date the Prince landed to begin the campaign in 1745.
Anyone who wants to support the site in its development and storytelling is welcome to join the challenge, which will raise money for Culloden’s Fighting Fund.
Donations can be made online, and a welcome pack will be sent out to everyone taking part.
Weekly emails and monthly podcasts will be shared to make the challenge as immersive as possible, and to remind people why they are taking it on.
Debbie Reid, visitor services manager at Culloden Battlefield said: “It will be a challenge to walk over 800 miles in just six weeks, but we are confident we can make it.
“We’re hoping people will be just as keen as us to get involved and support the site by taking on their own virtual challenge and we have some exciting content lined up to keep everyone engaged and feel like they are stepping through history.”
A unique medal will be offered to anyone who decides to go the extra mile, or a few hundred, and does more than the two million steps.
Preserving history
Culloden’s Fighting Fund aims to protect the site of Culloden Battlefield, which is under threat from new housing development.
Mr Curtis-Machin said: “Modern housing developments are encroaching on the site where many hundreds of men fell fighting for a cause they believed in.
“The National Trust for Scotland is trying to fight inappropriate development, and Culloden’s Fighting Fund was launched earlier this year to protect and conserve the battlefield.
“The Trust relies on the support of its members and donors to carry out its important work of caring for the natural and built heritage that people from Scotland and across the world all love, ensuring its future for everyone to enjoy.”
For more details on how to take part in the step challenge, email ‘SIGN ME UP’ to CFFund@nts.org.uk.