Postie completes walking challenge for CRUK

How do you best wind down after taking walking several miles a day during your duties as a relief postal worker?

For John Howden the answer was simple – walk another 14 miles over the weekend.

The 56 year-old has raised hundreds of pounds for Cancer Research UK after taking part in a fundraising Kiltwalk in Unst.

And he is no stranger to setting himself challenges – last year the former RAF serviceman walked almost nine miles from Belmont to the Balta Light Pub for Sands – the Stillbirth And Neo-natal Death Society.

Now, touched by his family’s sad experience with cancer, he has turned his attention to CRUK.

On Saturday he set off on a trek from Skaw to Belmont, but split the 14 mile walk over two days.

He has been helped by his wife Michelle, as well as the owner of the Balta Light Desley Stickle, who both walked the last three miles with him.

Donations have been flooding in, and he has already raised over £300. However, the real tally stands at over £500, thanks to a 50 per cent top up from the Hunter Foundation.

“This year I did it for Cancer Research UK,” Mr Howden told The Shetland Times.

“I lost both parents to cancer. Michelle’s father is a survivor and her brother has just been diagnosed as terminal.”

The walk was made even more challenging for Mr Howden because of the arthritis he suffers in his knees and hips.

But he has no plans to slow down just yet, and even has his sights set on completing the West Highland Way at some point in the future.

In the meantime, a link to his fundraising page can be found here.