On Friday 11th September I will shoulder my backpack in the town of Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders and start walking north. 15 days later I hope to arrive at the remote Cape Wrath Lighthouse – the most north-westerly point in mainland Britain. The 864 km of trails connecting these two points – the Scottish National Trail – will no doubt be filled with all sorts of highs, lows and bog. Lots of bog. 

I'll also be constantly thinking about water – how much to carry, where I can next top up my bottles safely and where I can responsibly answer nature's call. So it seems appropriate to raise money for WaterAid (more on this soon).

The Trail, when walked in its entirety (which not many people are silly enough to do), normally takes hikers 45-60 days. By packing light and moving fast I plan to cut this down to 15, which will mean averaging about 57 km and 12+ hours per day. If this works out I hope to record this as a self-supported FKT (Fastest Known Time) for the Trail (the current fastest solo time I'm aware of is 18 days with support). This is a 'big hairy audacious goal' born out of my lockdown echo chamber – I honestly don't know if I can do it, but I'm excited to find out!

More info on the Trail: www.walkhighlands.co.uk/scottish-national-trail.shtml

As a Water Engineer living in Scotland, I'm aware how blessed we are with good natural water resources, and how much we take this for granted. Drinking clean water straight from the tap or being able to flush our waste away from the comfort of our own homes is a luxury that many people don't have. Globally, two in five people don't even have access to hand washing facilities at home, and we all know how critical this is in the current COVID-19 pandemic. 

I'm hoping my walk can raise awareness and funds for WaterAid – an international charity doing amazing work bringing water and sanitation to those who need it most. Like most charities, their fundraising efforts have been affected by the pandemic and they urgently need our support. I hope we can raise at least £864 – one pound for every kilometre I'll be walking. I'm sure this will be huge motivation when the going gets tough.

Funds will go to WaterAid Scotland and will be used primarily on their projects in Rwanda and Malawi. More info on WaterAid and their amazing work: www.wateraid.org

With COVID considerations, and with this being a ‘self-supported’ trip, I’d encourage people not to try to meet me on the trail. But I’d hugely appreciate any messages of support, and of course donations to WaterAid. I’ll aim to share semi-regular updates on Instagram during the walk (@msgirvan), and I’m planning to set up a GPS tracking page so you can keep an eye on my suffering as an emotionless blip on a digital map.