Blind veteran from Aldershot attempting to complete 100km walk

A blind veteran from East surrey is attempting to walk 100 kilometres this weekend to raise money for charity

Andy Leitch from Aldershot, will be taking part in the South Coast Ultra, and will hope to complete the route on the third attempt raising money for Blind Veterans UK

He'll be joined by his wife as they take it on for the third year in a row. Andy told us how much his wife's support meant to him

"She's going to be beside me for the next 20, 30 hours walking the same walk as me. And to be fair, I think the support that she gives me, I need to give her as well, because she's effectively doing the course twice, because she's having to be my eyes as well as her own.

So she's looking for her own pitfalls as well as my own, as well as mine, that's got to be my greatest support."

He'll also be joined by 5 other veterans raising money and awareness for the charity

The first two years they attempted the route they came short with illness and weather preventing them from completing the route, Andy told us just how much it would mean for them to finish it this year

"It's the only one really that's beaten us. We've done London to Brighton a couple of times, we've walked out, we've cycled it, but for some reason, this one, it just throws up a bogey. So it'll mean everything."

Andy will be raising finds for Blind Veterans UK, he describes their support as "massive"

"What they do for each and every one of the members that go through the door is build the confidence and builds the fact that we can do things without having that stigma, but we can't. So that support network is fundamental and massive."

He adds the awareness he can bring to the charity by doing the walk is also incredibly valuable

"The charity itself is quite a small charity. So it's about getting the awareness out there and turning around saying, we are there. We are there for all services whether you've done a day's service or whether you've done 102 days service.

So it's just getting the awareness out there and try to raise a few quid at the same time"

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