Former sailor who is walking around UK hits Edinburgh on his 277 day of the trek

A former Royal Navy sailor who is walking around nearly 8,000 miles around the UK coast has hit Scotland’s Capital 277 days into his trek.

Jim Morton, 61, set off nearly a year ago from Penistone, South Yorks, and is currently in Edinburgh, on his 277th day of the trek that he first came up with aged seven years old.

He was 60 when he set off on April 12, and expects to be 62 when he finishes the 7,500 mile trek, and praised the kindness of strangers who let him use their electricity and sleep on their driveways.

In August he was hospitalised after suffering a bleed on the brain and breaking his foot.

Jim Morton, 61, who is walking the coast of the UK to raise funds for Gurkha Welfare Trust. Jan 13 2022.

He is hoping to raise £50,000 for the Gurkhas and has so far raised nearly £9,200.

He arrived in Scotland in May, and in August got stuck on a ledge in the Isle of Skye and ended up in hospital after jumping off in a bid to reach a tree - but woke up 20ft below on a stony beach after the cliff collapsed.

He was flown from near Skye to Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, where he spent three days being treated for a bleed on the brain and a broken foot.

Jim said: "The people I have met on this journey, some will be friends for life now.

Collect of Jim crossing in to Scotland May 2021.

"People have let us stay on their drives, use their electricity, we've had use of people's washing machines, they've fed us, they've donated, it really has been the people.

"Everybody was saying how fantastic the west coast of Scotland is but there are some fantastic beaches on the east. It took me seven months to get from Gretna to Cape Wrath and 13 days to get across.

"The coastline and the hospitality has been fantastic ever since I crossed the border.

"I was 60 when I set off on this walk and I think I'll be 62 before I finish it.

The donations raised will go charity The Gurkha Welfare Trust, after a devastating earthquake in 2015 devastated parts of Nepal.

Jim said: "It's all to go towards helping them in Nepal, they come over here, serve for 15 or 20 years and would normally go back to Nepal and have a family but everything was lost in the earthquake."

You can support Jim by donating to his JustGiving page HERE