Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 21^st June (Father’s Day) 2020

'The Schellenberg Way' for  Alzheimer’s Research UK and JustGiving

Background & Aims: -

My 18-year old son, Alexei and I have longed to escape the ‘5-mile exclusion zone’ like most households for months and have decided that we have no alternative but to consider an 'isolated break out’ in the next few weeks.  He has plotted an incredible walking route to our as yet to be announced final destination using the exciting OS mapping app. Considering our pent up restricted outdoor life in recent times, we wanted a physical, eco-friendly challenge that would try to abide by the government advice, the law and various outdoor association guidelines with a common-sense approach.

 However, the urgency to undertake this quest in time and the hope that ‘walking’ outside the 5-mile zone will be granted by end of June (most of our UK nations will have), and in the best walking/sleeping out weather upon us, we knew we had to act before it was too late. Keith introduced me to RLS's boys own epic adventure, 'Kidnapped' and John Buchan's classic Highland escape spy thriller, 'The 39 Steps' and later, discovered his poacher/wager yarn, 'John Macnab'.  These books are inspirational and should invite people to get outdoors and take to the cnocs, bealachs, bheinns, lochans and straths in search of adventure! Romantically or lamentably perhaps, like Jacobite fugitives ‘out’ in the ’45, we know we will have to lurk and trek undercover guided by light night skies and early starts as we yomp through the heather as imaginary ‘Redcoats’ acting with their informers, scouring the glens and corries eagle-eyed forewarned  to apprehend us along the way!  

Motivation is high as we couldn’t do the e-rally we were going on to raise money for Alzheimer’s Research UK due to the cancellation and in memory of my father and son’s grandfather who died at the end of last year following a 10 year battle with Alzheimer’s. We would like to think he would be remembered as an original and memorable organiser of both summer and winter games and brought many people together for the love of amateur sports, camaraderie and lasting friendship. From the youngest of ages, he would encourage his children and friends to get out-doors and discover places with the guidance of his Ordnance Survey map collections. One of his favourite ‘games’ or outdoor pursuits that I developed with him is called ‘Hanoverians and Jacobites’ and sometimes referred to as ‘The Campaign Game’, a sort of French and English skirmish based on the classic board games called ‘Tri Tactics’, ‘L’Attaque’ and ‘Campaign’ by Waddington’s. He always thought of himself in a slightly comical fashion as a much-maligned and capricious ‘Hanoverian in the Highlands’ (notwithstanding his Hanoverian sounding surname)  operating in the Highlands and so I think he would approve of the scope and title of 'The Schellenberg Way' for our JustGiving page and Alzheimer’s Research UK fundraiser for 2020.

He was always enthusiastic in his welcome of visitors to his self-catering enterprises and for them to explore the local walks, respecting wildlife, exploring historic sites etc and knew how important it was to encourage this emerging economy in our spectacular rural areas. Interestingly, he lived in three different parts of Scotland over 40 years and three of these designated ‘Ways’ were on his doorstep:  ‘The Buchan & Formartine Way’, Aberdeenshire, ‘The Speyside Way’, Banffshire and also by living just beside ‘The Kintyre Way’.  In Yorkshire, he enjoyed taking off and ticking off sections of another epic trail; “The Coast to Coast”.  Perhaps subconsciously too, the title of the fundraiser owes its name after binge-watching every episode of ‘The Mandalorian’ on Disney + during lockdown, where my sons and I kept hearing the actors often repeat …… “It’s the Mandalorian Way” - binding their philosophy of stoicism and so apt in our endeavour, “When one chooses to walk the way of the Mandalore, you are both Hunter, and Prey”.  (The Amorer, The Mandalorian) !

Like many folk nowadays, we are being encouraged to download and experience GPS navigating (but always bring a compass!) with incredible new apps such as STRAVA or apps from world-leading Ordnance Survey and their latest ‘GetOutside: do more in the British Outdoors’ initiative, so we decided to discover a new as yet untried ‘Way’ to get to the Highlands far West Coast from the Lowlands. We are certain he would have approved of this ‘expedition’ and given the landscape of strict lockdown rules confined to a max 5-mile walk from one’s home still sadly in force.

This unique route will begin by walking out of our front door in the Ochils near Stirling and touch some of the old Drovers routes, stray on to Roy’s military roads surveys (Scottish cartographer and founding father of OS) and other paths or no paths in a general northwesterly direction.  We believe if we can take extra safe precautions and travel with our low carbon footprint i.e. walk only, we will fulfill our objectives and raise urgent funds for our charity especially now at a time when sufferers from Alzheimer’s have suffered so disproportionally during the horrendous Covid-19 pandemic.

There are 29 wonderful designated long-distance trails or ‘Ways’ in Scotland and we thought we’d just add our own personal one. Our route  won't surpass the length of the longest current Scottish trail; 'The Southern Upland Way' (334 km) but will hopefully be 100 km  more than 'The West Highland Way' (154 km) from start to finish.  One of our aims is to be able to play a small part to encourage many more people both the young and the wiser, to get outdoors more and raise money for their charitable causes on existing trails or even, be more daring and create their own bespoke, personal ‘Ways’!

Hopefully, we will see a resumption of the visitor economy as soon as possible with a gradual increase in homegrown tourism for locals and visitors alike who will be inspired to strike out on foot direct from their own front doors to experience healthy, low carbon adventurous trails throughout our magnificent Highlands, Lowlands and Islands. Let’s begin its midsummer after all……...£9,000 is the goal...........

Thank you very much.

Nicholas Schellenberg

PS  any donations you can spare even just 0.1p per km, would be gratefully received for the cause and please, there is no need to advance donate until we can prove to you we bagged it and lived to tell the tale!

ENDS