Those that know me will remember that I take part in the #walkingwiththewounded “Walking Home For Christmas” campaign. The last couple of years I’ve done 10 x 5Km walks around Wythenshawe, carrying a Bergan rucksack weighing 25Kgs. The reason I do this is to help prevent around 70 veterans that lose their fight with P.T.S.D. & their inner demons every year. That’s over 1 a week!
This year, December 21st marks the 35th anniversary of the Pan Am 103 disaster at Lockerbie, Scotland. I was in the RAF at the time & was sent there shortly afterwards as part of the investigation & clean up operation. This left me with complex P.T.S.D.
This year, I intend to take part in the “Walking Home For Christmas” campaign by walking from home, here in Wythenshawe, south Manchester to Lockerbie. A total of around 160 miles. (The info-gram below shows the distances from Google maps but they don’t include going around roundabouts. Google maps trace a path directly across in a straight line! It also doesn’t include where I have to leave the route to get to a suitable spot to hang my hammock & tarpaulin!). I’m hopefully being accompanied by Gary Baker from Wythenshawe CATS – Community Amateur Theatrical Society.
We set off on Tuesday 12th December and follow the route through Bolton, Salmesbury, Garstang, Carnforth, Kendal, Shap, Ecclefechan to arrive in Lockerbie on the 21st December. My two eldest sons will join us in Ecclefechan to walk the final 6 miles or so into Lockerbie.
| Day | Date | Leaving from | Arriving at |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tuesday 12 December 2023 | Wythenshawe | Bolton |
| 2 | Wednesday 13 December 2023 | Bolton | Belisama’s Retreat – Salmesbury |
| 3 | Thursday 14 December 2023 | Belisama’s Retreat – Salmesbury | Garstang |
| 4 | Friday 15 December 2023 | Garstang | Carnforth |
| 5 | Saturday 16 December 2023 | Carnforth | Kendal |
| 6 | Sunday 17 December 2023 | Kendal | Shap |
| 7 | Monday 18 December 2023 | Shap | Blacktrack Beck – Penrith |
| 8 | Tuesday 19 December 2023 | Penrith | Todhills, Carlisle |
| 9 | Wednesday 20 December 2023 | Todhills | Ecclefechan |
| 10 | Thursday 21 December 2023 | Ecclefechan | Lockerbie |
I intend to be at the Lockerbie Memorial Garden on Sherwood Crescent in time to pay respects at 19:03pm, the time the IED detonated. I will also leave a framed photograph of the grave stone from the family grave of the entire family from Stockport that lost their lives onboard that night.
You can help in several ways! I’ll post a link to the official Walking With The Wounded fundraising page as soon as it’s set up. In the comments below, I’ll post some ideas as to how you can help. A lot of these WON’T include a cost to you! The biggest way you can help is to share this post with your family and friends and to get them to share also!
Companies & organisations that have already pledged help & support are, (In no particular order); Wythenshawe CATS – Community Amateur Theatrical Society, Wythenshawe Amateurs FC, Wythenshawe FM 97.2, Denise Southworth, Southside Magazine, Your Local Voice newspaper, Blue Ribbon Photos, Belisama’s Retreat CIC, Wythenshawe Community Housing Group.
There are a few things that I/we’ll need during the journey, including a new Bergan (About £50), food (I’ll be using boil in the bag type meals, not cans, to reduce weight). We’ll need to have the odd hot meal in a cafe to ensure that we have at least one proper hot meal per day. Lisa Joan Smith will be driving to meet us at Salmesbury at the end of day 2 and again at Ecclefechan in Scotland at the beginning of day 10. Gary’s wife will also drive up to provide logistical support (day & location T.B.D.). These all cost money, as does the hotel room we’ll need to stay in around Lockerbie on the 21st Dec. If you would prefer to provide help with these logistical items, that’s fine! Every penny towards logistics will be put to good use! If we collect more than we need, the excess will go towards the Walking Home For Christmas campaign.
The Route
