Blind Salisbury man walking 130-miles for sight support charity
Richard Burt begins his walk today (24th May)
A blind man from Salisbury is walking 130-miles in support of a charity helping people with visual impairments.
Richard Burt, 52, starts his walk in Brighton and will cover the distance back to the city along the South Downs over the May bank holiday weekend.
He's doing it in support of Wiltshire Sight, with the finish point their charity shop on Catherine Street.
Richard, who has Leber congenital amaurosis, a condition that has caused sight loss since birth, is being joined on the challenge by friends Mark and Nicolas, as well as his guide dog Dilly.
"It's something I've wanted to do for a while," Richard told Greatest Hits Radio.
A volunteer for several years with the charity, Richard said it's simply a way of giving back to an organisation that has given him so much.
"I can raise a bit of money, I can bring a bit of awareness to the charity and the great things they do locally," he said.
Richard told us he has benefited from the drop-in hub at the Catherine Street shop, which offers help with staying up to speed with technology and advice on which low-vision aids are available for people.
Its helped build a social group: "We network together, we all sort of get together once a month or twice a month in Salisbury to coffee mornings and we just chat about things we're interested and ways we can help each other," Richard said.
Richard's initial target was to raise £1,300 for the charity, but after receiving a cheque for a thousand pounds from one generous supporter, that target is already beaten.
Describing that moment as "amazing", Richard said: "This is going to so much difference locally," adding that anything further is now a bonus.
We can support Richard through his fundraising page here.