Blisters, an infected toe, muscle aches caused by Covid-19 and a tent that just about stood up to 40mph-plus gusts in the night.
These are just some of the challenges that Fife couple David Christopher and Louise Russell have faced since they set off more than three weeks ago on a 500-mile charity walk and camp along the North Coast 500 route.
But when the going has got tough, and when negative emotions have filled their minds, it’s also motivated them to keep going.
Why take on the 500-mile challenge?
That’s because the cathartic effects of walking have helped them process why they took on the gruelling challenge in the first place – the loss of two grown-up children in less than a year.
David, 46, and Louise, 54, from Cupar decided to take on the challenge in memory of Ciaran and Siobhan Russell, Louise’s children and David’s step-children.
Ciaran took his own life aged 29 in December 2020, leaving three children aged eight, five and three.
The following October, Siobhan, 33, died of septicaemia following an operation.
Siobhan had previously been a victim of domestic abuse, which her parents say led to alcoholism.
The couple say they will never know why Ciaran decided to take his own life.
They didn’t realise things were so bad for him that he thought suicide was the only answer.
While they knew about suicide statistics, they never thought it would happen to their family.
However, when the heartbroken parents lost Siobhan less than a year later, they decided to launch a support group to help others suffering suicidal thoughts, addiction, abuse and other difficulties.
Determined to raise awareness
They started a mental health awareness group on Facebook called SHADE (Suicide, Homelessness, Addiction, Domestic Abuse, Everyone) Mental Awareness.
Deciding they wanted to do more, they then decided to walk 516 miles along the north of Scotland, fundraising for five charities – Papyrus UK, Crisis UK, DrugFam, Scottish Association for Mental Health and the Veterans Foundation.
Setting off from Inverness Castle on May 2, and departing anti-clockwise on a walk/camp around the popular driving route, they chose the North Coast 500 because of its difficulty.
Through rain, hail and shine, the pair have been walking unaided, carrying their camping equipment and other belongings.
Overcoming challenges on NC500
When The Courier catches up with them by phone, their 23-day schedule has slipped slightly due to both of them catching Covid-19.
This led to them having to spend a few days isolated in their tent.
However, despite Covid-19, despite blisters forcing Louise to walk in flip-flops at one stage, despite David’s trainers almost being “worn through”, and despite a roller-coaster of emotions that has led to a few tears, they are staying mentally strong.
At the time of this interview, they anticipate finishing back at Inverness Castle on Tuesday May 30 – exactly four weeks after they set off.
“We’re a bit tired!” says Louise, speaking to The Courier on the approach to Ullapool.
“We’ve had a couple of set-backs – fun times! An infected toe and we’ve both had Covid.
“One day, before I realised I was not very well, the muscle pain was so horrendous, I just sat in the public toilet and howled my eyes out.
“You feel like you are letting down yourself, everyone that’s supported you, plus my children, plus my children that are not here, grandkids and all the rest of it, sort of thing.
“We had to isolate for a couple of days in our tent.
“But overall it’s been OK, actually.
“There’s been some wonderful scenery.
“Some of the roads are a bit dodgy because we are walking on the road.
“But most people are quite polite and haven’t been daft about passing us.”
Self-funded trip
For Louise, who works as a chef at No 10 in Cupar and also does sewing and upholstery, and for David, who works offshore, walking and camping unsupported has been a whole new experience.
They have both taken unpaid time off work to do the challenge.
Carrying their tent and all their gear, David’s rucksack weighs 22kg and Louise’s is 8kg.
Some days they have been camping out in the wilds.
Other days they have been stopping at formal campsites and making use of the showers.
They’ve not wanted to carry too much food due to the additional weight – buying as they go.
The weather has “been a bit of everything”, says Louise.
Heartened by support and donations for SHADE
What’s been heartening, however, has been the support they’ve had on the way.
David has a banner on the back of his rucksack advertising what they are doing.
Louise has been wearing a Change Mental Health t-shirt to highlight the recent Mental Health Awareness Week.
They’ve had “beeps and waves” from passing traffic and also had camper vans stopping to offer them coffee and tea.
At one campsite, an older lady gave them £5.
She revealed her nephew had taken his own life last year.
Reflecting on children’s deaths
Perhaps inevitably, however, the long hours and the cathartic effects of walking have led to reflecting on the circumstances of Ciaran and Siobhan’s deaths.
“Because you are just walking a lot of stuff goes through your mind,” says Louise.
“Some of the places we’ve walked it’s really quite barren.
“You are kind of wracking it through your head about what happened.
“Why it happened. Whether we could have done anything to stop it.
“Once we have done this – I’m waiting on Siobhan’s medical records and stuff – I’m going to have a look at what exactly happened.
“But these kind of thoughts are a motivation for walking, to keep going, because it gets the word out about mental health and other issues.
“Hopefully it helps people see what’s going on.”
Strangers opening up about mental health struggles
Louise said they’ve met several people who’ve “opened up” about their own struggles.
At one of the campsites they got talking to an ex-forces veteran.
He revealed that a few months ago he thought about “ending it all”.
He had struggled to access support.
If his friend hadn’t saved him, he’d “just be another statistic”.
He was only now starting to get help.
They also met a homeless veteran who’s just “wandering about the Highlands”, staying in his tent.
“He was at one of the campsites for a couple of nights then he was off back up the hills,” says Louise.
“He’s waiting on housing from the veterans’ foundation.
“We’re meeting all different characters and hearing all different stories.
“Some of it is along the same themes of not enough help, not enough funding.”
‘Lack of support’ highlighted
Mental Health Awareness Week, which this year had the theme of anxiety, has helped shine light on the issues.
Louise says a recurring theme is people not knowing where to look for support.
They have to go looking for charities.
What’s also clear, she says, is the importance of catching mental health issues early.
“Families are only finding out about it when it’s too late and they’ve lost people,” she says.
“You need to catch it before it gets to that point.
“I don’t know if they have education programmes on in school, but they need to catch it to deal with things like that.
“There’s a lot of under 18s and high school kids.
“It’s difficult to understand how it’s happening or why it’s happening.
“It seems to be more and more.
“I know it’s girls as well but there’s a lot of young guys doing it for whatever reason.
“I don’t know what’s making them think the world’s a better place without them in it.
“But everything is just so confusing for a lot of people nowadays.
“The whole, ‘who do you want to be today?’ type thing.
All these people are getting destroyed by the touch of a button.”
“It’s like you are not allowed to say anything or if it’s the wrong thing, everybody gets offended.
“I also think social media has a lot to answer for.
“They are not scanning it or policing it the way they are meant to be doing.
“All these people are getting destroyed by the touch of a button.
“They (the companies) are never held accountable.
“They are making as much money as they can, and don’t seem to care what happens to anybody else.”
David adds: “When it effects your family, you realise how much it’s happening and that it’s happening a lot more than you believed it was.
“The subjects we are doing it for as well: to raise as much awareness as we can for suicide, domestic abuse, addiction and homelessness.
“Any of these issues can be linked to any of the others, so rather than raise awareness for one single issue we want to raise awareness for them all.”
- Visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/david-louisenc500 to donate to David and Louise.
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