Two young men from West Lothian have been pounding the streets during lockdown to support people who are struggling with their mental health.
Pals Calum Drury and Ryan Lees have already raised over £1800 thanks to walking over 300 miles each so far to raise money for SAMH.
They said they had been walking and running throughout lockdown to keep their spirits up and decided to help the mental health charity in the process.
They have been out in all weathers and supporters can track their progress through the Outwalk app to length of Britain in 100 days.
And on Saturday they cheered up staff and shoppers at The Centre, Livingston, when they donned inflatable sumo suits to collect donations on the latest leg of their challenge.
The pair, who are both 23, have been friends since they met at Deans Community High School and said they have seen first hand the impact lockdown has had on mental health.
Calum explained: “Having seen the issues that lockdown brings regarding mental health, causing depression and anxiety and unfortunately suicide this year and last, myself and Ryan decided to turn our escape from lockdown blues into a fundraising effort.
“We’ve been walking and running as a way of coping through this all and want to track our progress and see how quickly we can walk the length of Britain, to raise much needed funds.
“I won’t actually be walking down Britain, but using my daily distance from each day, tracked through my Apple Watch.”
Calum said he and Ryan will be posting their progress on Twitter and on their fundraising page against a map of Britain.
He continued: “We have around 838 miles to complete so we’re hoping in around four to five months we will have reached our personal target.
“If this brings people to talk and express their feelings then I am happy. It is a horrible period we are going through, however we must make sure mental health still stays a priority.”
Ryan said he and Calum hadn’t expected to raise as much as they had and were “humbled” by the support they received.
He said: “On a personal note before lockdown we had a few friends that had a few demons, their own person things and then with lockdown we just seen there was a lot of news on the statistics and we thought, ‘why not’, it’ll give us a bit of purpose and show that even though there is a pandemic, folk do still care about that kind of thing.
“It was actually Calum’s idea to walk the length of Britain, he was just fresh into walking and felt he needed something to keep himself accountable and being Calum, though about what the most outlandish number was he could think of and that’s where the idea for Britain started.”
The pair started their challenge on February 1 and hope to finish within 100 days.
Ryan said he and Calum are delighted with how much they have raised, as they didn’t expect to raise much more than a few hundred pounds.
He added: “We’ve been really humbled by the amount of support and it just shows how many folk actively care about mental health and supporting people.”
To donate visit search for ‘Calum Drury Ryan and me walking Britain to raise funds for mental health in Scotland’ on Just Giving.
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