Birthday boy clocks up the miles
A 72-YEAR- OLD man has celebrated his birthday by walking more than 300 miles for charity.
John Dodd, from Northumberland, started his 600-mile journey on his birthday on Saturday March 11 in Brooklands, a motor racing circuit in Surrey, in memory of actor James Robertson Justice, who once featured on the track.
John has raised more than £ 500 so far for four charities close to his heart: the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland, Headway, Age Concern and Meningitis Now. John has been a film fanatic since the age of 14 and has worked as an extra on a number of films including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Around the World in 80 Days and TV series Minder.
When passing the Lochaber Times office on Monday, John was on his way to Spean Bridge for the night, before walking to Glengarry then on to Inverness and Dornoch prior to getting the bus back to Glasgow then home. He said: ‘I will have walked in excess of 350 miles when I finish which is not bad for a 72-year- old. I have just been taking my time with it. I started walking about 15 years ago after I lost the last member of my family. I wasn’t going to sit at home so I did seven walks that first year.’