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The Edinburgh KiltWalk - Sarah's Story
In Scotland we have so many lovely places to walk. I love walking, I walk everyday usually alone with just my dogs for company. Last week I along with five of my work colleagues took an entirely different walk. The Kiltwalk, was our way of raising funds for Little Hearts Matter, a charity close to our hearts, as it has been a tremendous help to our colleague Kaye’s daughter, Colbie-Kate, hence the team name: Colbie-Kate’s Kiltwalkers!
The Big Stroll (15.5 miles) started from Musselburgh and all walkers gathered at Pinkie Playing Fields. Almost everyone was wearing a kilt, there was tartan everywhere and as tartan is our thing, we began to try and identify all the ones we saw. Judy Murray gave a motivational speech at the start, she was starting each of the three KiltWalks that day, and was taking part to raise funds for the Judy Murray Foundation. We were treated to a full warm up workout from some local gym instructors from Puregym. The atmosphere was amazing as the pipes began to play, we were ready to do this.
Five miles in the heavens opened and we were thankful for the plastic ponchos, although putting them on in the strong wind and heavy rain became a comedy sketch! Despite the rain we were still smiling. We had all taken snacks, as no one at ScotlandShop likes to be hungry, we needn’t have as the hospitality laid on was tremendous. We were well fed and watered throughout the walk, by the charities manning the stations. Fruit, crisps and chocolate and even homemade tablet. It was lush and kept us going for the last third of the walk.
The enthusiasm of all the volunteers who helped make this event happen was wonderful, they had whistles tambourines, bubbles you name it, to give us encouragement to keep going.
We saw parts of Edinburgh we didn’t know existed on our journey through Leith to Newhaven and Cramond before leaving the shoreline and heading into the city. We were treated to marvellous views across the Firth of Forth and yes it was blowing a Hoolie and rained but we were in Scotland after all!
Eventually we got a glimpse of Murrayfield stadium in the distance and a cheer erupted from everyone as they saw it, the end was in sight! Team Tartan crossed the finish line five hours after we had started, and were pleased to see some familiar faces from home. Local photographer Yid Whellans and his wife Elaine, who is super fit after completing all four of the Kiltwalks held this year. Elaine has raised thousands for Its Good to Give and is an inspiration.
Everyone had their own reasons for doing the Kiltwalk and this made it even more emotional to have completed it; for whilst the walking was doing us good, we were also raising much needed funds for our chosen charity. So far we have raised almost £900 for Little Hearts Matter and we are all so grateful for all the donations we have received. There is still time to donate if you missed the JustGiving link before. Thank you everyone! As walks go, this was a pretty special one. Well done Colbie-Kate’s Kiltwalkers!
