A old soldier from Angus is about to saddle up for the personal challenge of a marathon cycle tour around the coast of Scotland.
Forfar 73-year-old Mick McKeown is due to set off this weekend on the 50-miles-a-day journey which he hopes will bring a return to the Arbroath start point in just over three weeks.
During a training run from Forfar to Alyth, Mr McKeown said he was looking forward to the challenge after a delayed start to the epic journey.
“I picked up a cold and ended up on antibiotics so I wasn’t able to go on my original start date but I’m feeling much better and will be heading off from the Royal British Legion Scotland clubrooms in Arbroath on Sunday morning,” he said.
Mr McKeown, who joined the Royal Artillery as a boy soldier and served almost 40 years, is raising money for Family Travel, which helps fund transport and accommodation costs for service families visiting their injured loved ones in hospitals across the country.
He said, “I think I’ve got around £1400 in sponsorship so far, which is a little more than I anticipated, and hopefully I’ll gather some more on the way round.”
“My aim is to do 50 miles a day but I’ll be sensible about it and if there are days when I feel I can do a wee bit more then I’ll maybe try an extra 10 miles or so.”
He added, “It is my intention to sleep out most nights using camp sites or a nice camping spot but I’ll spend the occasional night in a hostel or B&B to get a good shower and recharge my mobile phone.”
His route will take him south from Arbroath and down the east coast before crossing to Stranraer for a clockwise loop up the west coast and back to Angus.