THE WALKER CLEANING UP OUR COAST
KEEN traveller Wayne Dixon is fulfilling a childhood dream by walking the coast of Britain – and he has decided to pick up any litter in his path.
After three years in the military in Germany, he spent five exploring.
He picked olives in Greece and flowers in Holland. In Israel he worked in a factory and cleaned Portaloos. Now, the civic-minded 45-year-old is combining his 6,824-mile trek with picking up litter.
“I came into Wales in February, I have gone all around Anglesey and now I am heading south and coming towards Cardiff in a few weeks,” the former youth worker said.
Wayne’s dad John was an avid rambler whose travels took him from rural Lancashire to post-Cold War Russia. He wrote more than 30 historical walking guides.
“My dad got me into hill-walking,” Wayne said.
“Me and my dad would go on holiday once a year and do a gorge walk or a mountain walk or a coastal walk.”
They went to Crete and Turkey, and walked chunks of the South West Coast Path – a 630-mile stretch from Minehead to Poole Harbour.
By the late Noughties, they vowed to walk the British coast.
“He died four and a half years ago,” Wayne said.
“Before he died he was helping me complete my dream. Every year we did two weeks on the British coast. “The idea was to do the whole thing.” The nearly 7,000-mile challenge could have taken 20 years.
When he died John left his son and his sister Max a house.
That is rented out for £400 a month. This provides Wayne with the £200 a month he survives on. It’s mostly spent on water, cooking fuel and food for him and his Northern Inuit dog Koda.
In his 50lb backpack is a tent, two sleeping bags, waterproof clothing, a wind-up radio, torch, camping stove, and Koda’s toys. All he misses is BBC6 Music.
“I never thought I would get to do the whole thing in one go,” Wayne, from Blackburn, Lancashire, said.
Shortcuts – like crossing the Severn Bridge – can cut the trek down to about 5,600 miles. But Wayne isn’t taking those. He decided to turn his trip into a litter pick because “the whole country has a massive problem of people throwing litter out of cars”.
“It’s the same litter over and over, plastic bottles and cans and coffee cups,” Wayne said, as he walked through Pendine, Carmarthenshire.
“As soon as you get in the country roads you see it. It’s a massive problem and it is sheer laziness. They need to understand the impact they are having on the wildlife.”
“When you look around there is litter everywhere. People walk past it and say nothing. It has become part of the landscape.
“It’s becoming normal. I look around and I think, ‘Does no one else see it?’”
As well as picking litter, Wayne is fundraising for mental health charity Mind – his dad was bipolar – and the Northern Inuit Society.
“You’re only going to do something like this once so it is a good platform to use it to raise awareness about something you’re passionate about,” Wayne said.
“People have been absolutely fantastic. They have been coming and doing beach cleans or walking with me.
“I’ve a guy with me now who I met in Newquay, I met him in the pub when we were talking about dogs.
“He’s never done any long distance walking but he’s going to walk with me for an- other five weeks. He’s loving it.”
Marathon walker John Merrill was the first person to walk the entire British coast in 1978 and it is often seen as the pinnacle for walking enthusiasts.
Many have attempted the trip but only a tiny fraction have completed it. There is no known official figure. Wayne thinks it is 48. “I’m having a whale of a time,” he said. “Wales has been amazing. Some of the people I have met have blown me away.
“People have given me money for the charities, or walked with me, or done beach cleans or given the dog treats.”
Since starting at Fleetwood, Lancashire, on January 10, he has walked about 1,800 miles. “I’ve another 5,500 to go,” Wayne said. “It will take another three or four years. I’m loving it. I’ve got my best friend, £50 a week and my roof on my back. I’m as happy as chips.”