The Rector of St Andrew’s Cathedral is planning to walk from Aberdeen to London to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee.
Rev Isaac Poobalan will spend 50 days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost walking across the UK.
Following a launch walk with Lord Provost Barney Crockett on Easter Sunday, he will set off from the city on Monday with plans to cover 14 miles a day.
Rev Poobalan, who has served at St Andrew’s for seven years, said his “principal focus” for the walk is to celebrate the Queen’s 70 years of service.
He said: “I’m doing it as an experiment of 50 days of walking through the landscape praying for peace to see if that will have a real impact on the community and people.
“During lockdown, I kept walking through our city and found people out and about, some with mental health issues and addiction. It was a privilege to walk with them and pray for healing.
“Saying to people that they matter and there are others that care for them is part of the general idea.”
Meeting people on the road
The Rector of St Andrew’s Cathedral, on King Street, said the walk will not be an endurance test but a way for him to genuinely interact with other people.
Mark Walker and Nigel Lammas will join him for the walk, taking turns to drive the caravan which will be their home during the journey.
Rev Poobalan explained what made his fellow walker’s names special.
He said: “On the first Easter Sunday, two of Jesus’s disciples walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus and at the end of the walk they broke bread, which was a personal, deeply moving moment for all of them.
“One surname is Walker and the other surname is Lammas, he is a walker and Lammas means bread. These two gentlemen, just by their surnames, bring so much.”
Rev Poobalan has written to the Queen ahead of her Jubilee and has been walking from Aberdeenshire to the city centre every day for the past two months in preparation.
“I’ve been walking from Ellon, Inverurie, Castle Fraser, Banchory to get used to the distance,” he said.
“Already the walks I’ve done, I’ve come across absolutely fascinating people. When you get the chance to have a conversation it opens up a beautiful world and I believe the exchange changes both of us.”
