After travelling through Panama, my eyes were opened to the seriously damaging effects that plastic has on sea life and the environment. Uninhabited beaches, once clean and golden, were covered in litter. Coral was bleaching. Sea turtles could only be found in protected areas where access was limited. Seeing this with my own eyes made me realise how unfair damaging the earth for our own benefit is. Especially on the 8.7 million other species we live with.

We kill one million seabirds and 100,000 marine creatures every year from ingestion of or entanglement in plastics. We also dump over 8 million tonnes of plastic into the ocean every year. (surfrider.org)

My goal is to raise money for the charity Surfers Against Sewage, to help raise awareness and take action against plastic pollution. They are a UK based charity in Cornwall, and work in education, beach cleans, plastic free communities, climate change and water quality. For someone living in the UK, I thought it was appropriate to choose a charity close to home and heart.

There have already been many success stories for fundraising already. I hope to add to those by walking 725km across Scotland. This includes walking up through the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, climbing Ben Nevis, the Cairngorms (including Ben Macdui and Cairn Gorm), across to Morvich via Loch Ness, and up to Cape Wrath.

Thank you so much for reading. If you would like more details, don't hesitate to email me at: alice@lemarchant.com 

Alice.