A man from Scotland has embarked on a walking journey across Canada to raise funds for a forest in his home country.
Michael Yellowlees of Dunkeld and Birnham, Scotland, left Tofino last week and will spend the next seven months walking a marathon a day until he reaches Newfoundland and Labrador.
Yellowlees and his Husky dog Luna arrived in Port Alberni the morning of Friday, March 5 in a deluge of rain. They had already been on the road for four days.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e been walking from Tofino to Port Alberni for the last few days and taking snaps as I go. People back home are very much commenting, itB次元官网网址檚 so similar (to Scotland), in your landscape and also your weather right now,B次元官网网址� he said.
Yellowlees is recognizableB次元官网网址攚hen heB次元官网网址檚 not covered head to toe in a rain ponchoB次元官网网址攂y his distinctive red beard and his kilt.
Yellowlees is a veteran of long walks, having trekked across India on a personal journey in 2017. He has been in Canada for eight months, and admits that he has romanticized what it will be like to walk from coast to coast.
B次元官网网址淚t was almost a romantic notion; Tofino is known as the end of the road. I liked the sound of that,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淎lso with what IB次元官网网址檓 doing, it has a bit of a metaphor to it, because weB次元官网网址檙e talking about the end of the road in regard to the environment. We need to do stuff about this now.B次元官网网址�
While he admits thereB次元官网网址檚 a B次元官网网址渢ouch of madnessB次元官网网址� to attempting such a trek during a pandemic and in a foreign country, he is doing it for a cause: to help Trees for Life, which is trying to restore the Caledonian Forest that once stretched from coast to coast across Scotland. The ancient pinewood forest was formed at the end of the last ice age, and its unique ecosystem is almost eradicated.
Yellowlees is raising money online and writing about his journey on social media. He is travelling with a guitar, and often starts or ends his days with a song he posts on Facebook.
B次元官网网址淎lthough IB次元官网网址檓 doing this for my own corner of the world in Scotland, itB次元官网网址檚 very apt across the board here, especially in Canada that weB次元官网网址檝e got to be looking after what weB次元官网网址檝e got. IB次元官网网址檓 trying to experience what you have here in regards to your wilderness.
B次元官网网址淧lease look after what youB次元官网网址檝e got here. ThatB次元官网网址檚 what weB次元官网网址檙e striving for in Scotland.B次元官网网址�
The distance from Tofino to Newfoundland is approximately 5,000 kilometres. Yellowlees thinks it will take him seven months to walk across the country, based on walking a marathon a day (42 kms or 26.2 miles).
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 going to take me a goodly while. IB次元官网网址檓 hoping IB次元官网网址檓 going to manage it before winter comes next year.B次元官网网址�
Yellowlees is pushing a small hand truck with his guitar and some supplies. Luna will be his constant companion while on the road. He acquired Luna after working for a few months with a sleddog operation in Banff before coming to Tofino, where he spent four months.
He was working at the Tofino Botanical Gardens before he left.
Yellowlees had raised $4,000 by the time he and Luna made it to Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal as of Monday morning, March 8, to continue their journey east.
Follow YellowleesB次元官网网址� journey across Canada on Facebook at . Anyone wishing to contribute to YellowleesB次元官网网址� journey can do so at .
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