Whalley-based man completes whopping 211-mile trek for charity

A Ribble Valley-based man has completed a whopping 211-mile trek to his grandfather’s house in Glasgow, Scotland to raise money for the Lymphoma Action Charity.

Aidan Perry from Whalley made the decision to raise money for Lymphoma Action after his father was diagnosed with stage 3 lymphoma cancer last year. Aidan, who began his journey on Wednesday, July 22nd and reached Glasgow on July 29th, has surpassed his original £500 goal on JustGiving, raising £2,855 thus far.

Aidan, who was born in Scotland, stated that he was inspired to undertake the challenge wearing a kilt after taking inspiration from Scottish superfan Craig Ferguson. Ferguson walked over 3,000 miles from Los Angeles to Boston wearing a traditional kilt in the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, raising over £1 million for the Scottish Association for Mental Health.

“I thought walking and doing it in my kilt probably would be the hardest challenge available to me that fast,” he admitted. “He (Ferguson) did it in his kilt, and it was kind of a bit of an inspiration to me, so I just decided to do my own thing, really,” Aidan finished.

Aidan, who didn’t undergo any physical preparation in the lead-up to the walk, made the decision to undertake the challenge after a difficult period, which included his father’s diagnosis and the death of his grandfather in April, which influenced his decision to make his grandfather’s house in Glasgow the final destination on his journey.

“I was in not a bad place but not necessarily a good place (mentally),” he said. “I decided to go on a mini-walk. By the end of the day I'd walked around 20 miles and I broke my phone so I ended up having to walk pretty much all the way back and getting a bus back and then that's when I decided I'm going to raise money for charity and just make something out of it,” Aidan added.

For the entirety of the seven-day trek, Aidan carried a rucksack with his belongings and camped out each night in a tent up to Scotland, leading to him waking up surrounded by wildlife, something he described as “nice”. But what did his dad say to him upon completing the challenge? “He was just very very proud and obviously it's very hard for him to show him any emotion so it was quite nice and refreshing for me for him to give some good feedback,” Aidan added.