He's not mad, he's a Neuroblastoma girls Dad

For those of you who took part in the Speyside Kiltwalk wasn’t it wonderful to see our three Kiltwalk Kids Rhiona, Keane and Isla start everyone off from Buckie High School on the start of their 26 mile journey. They act as the perfect inspiration and motivation for us all.

The pictures were terrific and the photograph Shaun took of Isla in her Mums arms was the inset picture in the following weeks Sunday Post. Sam and Ailsa are becoming Kiltwalk picture regulars and if we don’t watch out they may start wanting image rights :-)

However Sam and Isla are only two of the five Simpson family we’ve been introduced to and Isla has two big sisters Becky and Cerys, who she looks up in awe, just like little sisters do. I’m sure that one day we’ll get the pair of them doing a Kiltwalk, of some kind.

The missing link that we’ve not been introduced to is Sam’s husband Ross, or Isla's Dad who has been there every step of the way with Sam as they looked after their precious daughter in the last few years. We’ve just not written about him before, as he’s not as bonny looking as Sam, however his heart is just as large.

I first met Sam and Ross last year at Fochabers where they were taking part in the 16 mile Kiltwalk to Aberlour as they felt that’s all they’d be able to manage without training as Isla took priority.

Like many do, they loved the whole Kiltwalk experience as not only was it great fun, it was a great way to fund raise for Yorkhill Children’s Charity, a charity very close to their heart as Isla had spent many months in Yorkhill receiving treatment.

So this year Sam and Ross made a pact to walk three Kiltwalks this year (Glasgow, Edinburgh & Speyside) to raise funds for local charity 'Logan's Fund' set up in memory of Logan Main, who died of Neuroblastoma in 2009, he was only three years of age.

Logan's Fund supports those affected by childhood cancer and related charities and supported the Simpson’s during Isla’s treatment.

Therefore when Ross found out he wasn’t going to be able to leave the current job he was working on in Norway, to walk side by side, mile by mile with Sam, he was totally gutted. However Ross had an inkling this may happen and went to Norway fully prepared.

Have a read below and find out all about his adventure.

“I was really disappointed to miss my local Kiltwalk, knowing that it is the hardest of the Scottish Kiltwalks. I felt so strongly about this I decided to do a solo Kiltwalk in Norway, at precisely the same time as the 800 of my fellow Kiltwalkers were tackling Speyside.

The weather forecast predicted ‘showers’ and boy did they get that wrong, unless you call it one really long shower. Only the intensity of the rain changed, it went from raining to hammering it down with rivers of water running down the streets and back to just raining again all day.

I planned my route to be about 25 miles and wouldn’t be sure of the exact distance till I finished as I was tracking my route via he GPS on my phone, well that was the plan anyway.

About a mile before my planned midpoint the GPS started playing up, I guess it wasn’t liking the level of moisture in my pockets from all the rain. When the GPS finally died, I was just shy of the midpoint and it was reading 13.2 miles. I never got the GPS to work again on the walk.

It was rather amusing seeing the looks on the faces of all the Norwegians driving by. I could see they were all thinking, what is that crazy Scotsman in a kilt doing walking in all this rain!

I thought my Kiltwalk would be easy compared to the Speyside one, after all I didn’t have to conquer the Ben! Physically it was, all I had to cope with was the rain, the wind and a brief flurry of sleet, I mean come on! It’s not winter yet.

Mentally, now that’s a whole different ballgame. Doing a Kiltwalk with all the other walkers is a great boost. When you’re struggling there is always someone with a smile and some words of ecouragement to give you that much needed lift. Other kiltwalkers to share stories with, we all have our different reasons for wanting to help these extremely worthy charities. The wonderful helpers from the partner charities at the pitstops. When you are walking alone there is no one to distract you or offer encouragement. I found myself thinking a lot about my family, how proud I was of Isla leading out the Speyside kiltwalkers alongside Rhiona and Keane.

I was particulalry thinking about my wife, Sam, who was walking her first Kiltwalk without me at her side as I know that we draw a lot of strength from each other.

My walk was somewhere between 24 and 26 miles, which took me 6 hours and 25 minutes to complete and all I had for company was my MP3 player. There were periods where I wished I had one more Kiltwalker beside me, to pull me through, however when the going got really tough I just thought about all the other families we have come to know, touched by this cruel disease, and I ploughed on, not to be beaten, cause when your a Neuroblastoma girls Dad, you'll walk to the end of the world for a cure”.

So Kiltwalkers, that’s Ross’s story and what a story of determination it was, and equalled any trip up the ‘Ben and we salute you for it.

Sam and Robert finished the Speyside walk in style I was there to welcome them at the finish, they did you proud Ross.

However that wasn’t the last time I saw Sam that day as several hours later I found her fully recovered and feeling no pain in the Mash Tun as she partied with the rest of Logan's Tartan Army and what a party it was.