The Finish: Lions trek for Doddie Weir

Andy Nicol

When I signed up for The Lions Trek for Doddie I think I did so without really thinking it through. 32 miles over fairly tough terrain in 12 hours is what our professional guides described as an ‘extreme’ test of endurance for ‘amateur’ trekkers. It was tough but we all did it.

55 trepid Trekkers were met at Melrose RFC by the man himself, Doddie Weir and he was the inspiration for all of us to keep going. He is facing so many challenges with MND, the least we could do was complete the Trek. We set off from Peebles at 8am with the first leg to West Linton being 13 miles. My knee, in which there are two metal screws from an old rugby injury, was beginning to ache when I completed the first leg but loads of anti-inflams were taken over lunch and things eased off on the second 12 miles leg to Balerno. On this leg, we walked over the Pentland Hills and the view of Edinburgh, albeit, still some way off was a very uplifting sight. The last leg from Balerno to Murrayfield was a straightforward 7 miles trek downhill along the Water of Leith but the body was aching by this stage and it was a great sight to see Murrayfield Stadium get closer.

After 12 hours of trekking with only 2 stops of 20 minutes a small group including ex-Lion Rob Wainwright and TV presenter Jill Douglas finally made it to Murrayfield to be met by Doddie and his smile was all we needed to see. The main group had completed the Trek earlier.

It was tough but it was worthwhile as we have raised over £160k for My Names Doddie Foundation so far. If you would like to contribute to this figure please head to my Just Giving Page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/andy-nicol4