A Highland man has walked the entire boundary of the Cairngorms National Park in his mission to raise £10,000 for charity.
Will Boyd-Wallis, 48, from Tulloch, near Nethy Bridge, travelled 13 miles a day for 22 days to complete the 270-mile trail through tough terrain and stunning scenery.
The walk, which ended on Saturday, was to raise cash for Parkinson’s, a condition his mother Margaret has suffered with for more than a decade.
Mr Boyd-Wallis, head of land Management and conservation at Cairngorm National Park Authority, said: “I feel really good. I finished at 11am as planned and I am now at home feeling very relaxed.
“It was a great experience – I loved it. It all went really well.
“The terrain was very mixed and it was tough in places. The bit I found really hard was getting alongside some of the peat hedges and the electric fencing. There was thick mist up in the mountains so I had to walk through thick mist with electric fencing beside me and navigate all at once. I wasn’t using an app so navigating in the mist was challenging.”
His efforts have so far raised £8,000 for the Cure Parkinson’s Trust – just £2,000 short of his overall target.
Mr Boyd-Wallis stressed his determination to obtain his £10,000 target still remains, adding: “I really want to try and get that so I will keep plugging away.
“If people are interested, I might do a series of talks in the winter to try and raise a bit more cash. I am not giving up. I may have finished the walk but I have not finished fundraising to get the £10,000 target.
“I want to say a huge thank you to all the people that have donated. It’s just been so heart-warming. People through work and also people I have met along with way. People from work, that I didn’t really know so fell, they joined me for a few miles. There is nothing better than getting to know someone on a walk.”
