The planet’s paramedics
Couple plan epic two-year bike and boat trip
Two paramedics who have spent a total of 40 years saving hundreds of lives are planning a two- year mission to help save the planet.
Malcolm Auchie, 50, and his wife Debbie Brown, 45, plan to travel 36,000 mi les across 73 countries in Europe and the Americas by bicycle and boat – including rowing across the Atlantic.
Their aim is to pick up every piece of plastic they find on their travels, place it in a trailer towed by their bikes and deliver it to local recycling centres.
They also plan to climb the highest peaks in every country they visit, including Mont Blanc in France, to highlight the vast amount of plastic bottles and containers that are dumped on mountains each year.
The couple, from Larbert in Stirlingshire, expect to pick up tons of plastic refuse that would otherwise continue to pollute the environment.
Their backers inc lude Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley, who has campaigned for many years to protect the environment and rare wildlife and has given them a written endorsement.
They also have the support of Greenpeace and two prominent wildlife bodies in the US, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation and Missouri Department of Conservation.
Malcolm and Debbie were inspired to take action after watching A Plastic Whale, a 2017 documentary, about a whale that died after consuming too much plastic.
The mammal stopped eating because its brain told it that its stomach was full.
Malcolm said:“My wife and
I are passionate about the environment and spend most of our time outdoors.
“Our main aim is to collect as much discarded plastic as physically possible along the way.
“Over the past few years, we have been reading and watching the reports on plastic pollution as well as witnessing increasing amounts of discarded plastic on mountains.
“We therefore decided that we must do something ourselves to stop this.”
Debbie has been a paramedic with the Scottish Ambulance
Service for more than 24 years and is based in Falkirk. Malcolm, who works from the Stirling depot, has been a paramedic for almost 16 years and also volunteers with the Ochils Mountain Rescue Team.
The couple will take two years’ unpaid leave.
They hope Malcolm’s 26-yearold daughter and Debbie’s 18-year- old son will be able to join them on parts of the journey.
Debbie said their main challenge will be the 3000-mile row across the Atlantic from Europe to North America, which they expect to take 56 days. She added: “We’ ll have to take enough food to last the entire journey.
“We’ll also have a desalination machine that wi l l convert seawater so we can use it.”
The couple are looking for sponsorship and donations. Any money left over after their costs are covered will be donated to an anti-pollution charity.
They plan to begin their two-year journey in June next year by rowing from Fort William to Ireland after climbing Ben Nevis.
They are then set to row to Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and finally Norway. From there they wi l l cycle through Eastern Europe, including Russia, and across Western Europe until they reach the south of Spain, from where they plan to row to the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago.
The couple will then head to Cuba, Panama and Mexico, before arriving at Miami in Florida.
The final leg will see them cycle nor th through 23 states before ending their journey in Alaska in
June 2023.
Our aim is to collect as much discarded plastic as possible