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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Stuart Gillespie

Dumfries and Galloway forces charity boss aims to emulate The Proclaimers with 500 miles fundraising walk

An old age pensioner is getting ready to walk 500 miles.

And Robin Hood (pictured right) is hoping The Proclaimers will send him on his way.

The head of forces charity Southwest Scotland RnR will turn 66 on June 15, officially making him an OAP.

To mark the occasion, he plans to walk from the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh to the UK Parliament in Westminster.

He’ll be joined by trusty companion Jock – a wooden carving of a Scottish squaddie who has taken part in many similar fundraisers in the past.

And, given his age, he’ll also be taking a Zimmer frame with him.

(Jim McEwan)

Robin, who lives on the banks of Loch Ken near Mossdale, said: “The shortest route door-to-door is 375 miles but that’s using motorways which obviously I won’t be allowed to do.

“When I walked from Dumfries to London before it was about 400 miles as I was going through towns with forces connections so this will be more than 500.

“I’m going to see if The Proclaimers can come to send me off and maybe Nicola Sturgeon will come out too - I hear she has a great singing voice.”

As well as walking and pulling Jock from Dumfries to London in 2018, a second carving – Jock 2 – was pulled from John O’Groats to Dumfries in 2019.

And with the challenge kicking off in June, Robin is hoping the weather will be kinder to him this time.

He added: “Hopefully it’ll be nice and warm and I’ll come back with a suntan!”

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