A visually impaired dad-of-one from Elgin has successfully visited all 272 London Underground stops in two days – raising more than £1,500 for a north-east charity in the process.
Garry Ritchie, 49, spent 13 hours travelling constantly around the network on March 24, and 11 hours the following day, to beat the challenge in aid of North East Sensory Services (Ness).
Mr Ritchie, a user of the charity himself, was joined by family friend Tracey Morris who acted as his sighted guide.
Having initially set himself the target of raising £500, the oil and gas project engineer ended up making £1,580 not including gift aid – and more than £1,800 with it included.
He said: “I’m over the moon with what we have achieved and enjoyed taking on this challenge.
“It was a good experience – but it was long. The first day took 13 hours and it took 11 hours the second day.
“It was extremely difficult, but it was great when we finally finished. It gave me a real sense of accomplishment. It was very challenging, but that’s the whole point of it.
“It just goes to show that nothing is impossible.”
He added: “Ness has given me invaluable support since I was first diagnosed, and I’m glad I’ve been able to do this to give something back.”
‘Objective is to achieve independence for blind and deaf people’
Graham Findlay, chief executive of Ness, said: “Everyone at Ness is delighted for Garry and Tracey after completing their Tube challenge.
“We’re also extremely grateful for the money they have raised for our charity, which will go towards our work in supporting people with visual and hearing impairments.
“Our driving objective is to achieve independence for blind and deaf people so it’s wonderful to see one of our service users taking on a challenge of this nature.”
Mr Ritchie’s fundraising page for the Tube Challenge can be found at this link.