*update: to meet the whole team, scroll down. It's DEFINITELY worth it. As long as you donate first / after / both.*

Hi. I'm Will. Together with my Stupid Walking Pals Alice, Jenn, Ben, Will G and Alex, we are doing a fairly stupidly difficult thing for a stupidly brilliant cause. 

I have a nephew, Hugo (aged 6, likes shouting, Pokemon, and swimming) who is severely life-limited. I'd like to help, but I can't, not really. 

But there is something I will do. And we will do it together. 

The six of us will be walking the West Highlands Way in late September. Around 21 miles each day for five days. That’s too much walking. It's literally a full-time job long-day's worth of walking, every day, times five days. Most people do the West Highland Way in 7 days. Us? 5. Now, I hate walking. Always have, always will. I just don't get that pheromones-after- exercising thing that everyone (especially Alex, but he’s a simple soul) bangs on about. And whilst the company is average to good, depending on the day, it will be late September. In Scotland. So the weather. Will. Be. Pants. 

So it would make us feel a lot better if we knew that people were behind us, and that we were raising money for a good cause. (All of the money raised goes directly to the charity - we are funding the walk entirely ourselves; have we booked our travel yet? No. Have we booked our accommodation? Mostly, yes. A lot of it is weird...)

And that cause is the cutely named Chestnut Tree Hospice; they help families with life-limited children in practical ways to try and help them live as full lives as possible. As, often in these cases, it is the little bits of life which can overwhelm - school runs, cooking meals, cleaning houses, playing with kids, delivering drugs without which a member of the family would die, that kind of thing. 

We will be sharing video updates as we go along via the medium of social media. Maybe we'll follow Alice training up some lobsters as mini-sherpas. Or join Alex running, running, running, ostensibly to prepare, but really trying to exorcise the demons of only being Paisley's Second Fastest Man. Perhaps accompany Ben buying things he doesn't need in Decathlon (how much spandex is too much spandex for a walk like this, anyway?). Watch Will Green writing poetry and singing songs about sadness in preparation. See Jenn McGonacccheeee (I think that's how it's spelt), our local, trying to coach us all on the Scottish 'lingo' (none of us can understand a word, sorry Jenn). And look forward to Will H booking his return journey four days before the outgoing journey, leaving him stranded in the wilds of Scotland. 

A bit more info on the charity, for those internet link geeks: 

https://www.chestnut-tree-house.org.uk

Anything you can give would be a wondrous gift, and would warm our cockles and souls. So thank you in advance, 

Will and the Stupid Scottish Walk Gang. 

FYI:

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.