Simon's marathon run hits St Andrews

Dedicating his ‘wee run’ to Ecologia Youth Trust’s work with orphans and marginalised youngsters, he aims to raise £20,000.

Simon set off from his home in Kinloss, Moray, on Easter Sunday 2016.

He is due in St Andrews on Saturday.

Without a support team, or even a tent, he runs up to 30 miles per day, depending upon his architectural work, which he keeps up with on his laptop to fund his journey.

His route has taken him anticlockwise: up to John O’Groats and Cape Wrath, down Scotland’s spectacular west coast, and along Wales’ pioneering national coastal path.

At Land’s End, Simon became an official ‘End-to-Ender’, having taken the long way round! Continuing on along Devon’s beautiful Jurassic Coast to Dover’s white cliffs, during the coldest months and the shortest days of the year, he was just a little relieved when spring arrived to see him round East Anglia, up the coastal section of Yorkshire’s picturesque Cleveland Way, and through Northumberland. Midges, ankle pain, and stormy, wet nights with only a bivvy bag to shelter in have not been easy at times. But Simon has been spurred on by the people he has encountered – including, recently, Jeremy Corbyn! – and the kindness they have shown, from donating spare change and buying him cake and cups of tea, to even opening up their homes to give him shelter.

Inspired by Rosie Swale Pope’s Just a Little Run Around the World, Simon is following the edge of mainland Britain, to test his own limits, his own edge. At the same time, he is dedicating his journey of self-discovery to supporting Ecologia’s work with children and young people facing their own tough challenges.

He said: ‘‘Giving - no doubt at times, grinding out - effort to benefit youngsters who have less fortuitous circumstances than mine seems the least I can do, and the thought of carrying and needing very little, while asking others to give a lot to improve the lives of children seems the best of affairs.”

To donate Simoin Clark