Muckle Flugga by kayak

Hans J Marter

27 June 2009

ANDREW Fairbairn, from Banbury in Oxfordshire, was yesterday (Friday) only hours away from achieving his ultimate goal – reaching Muckle Flugga in a kayak.

The member of the Banbury Rotary Club arrived in Shetland yesterday morning to complete the last leg of the Fairbanks Challenge, a mammoth fundraising journey from the Scilly Isles, off Cornwall, to the north tip of Shetland.

Travelling by bike, kayak and on foot, Andrew aims to raise up to £25,000 to help disabled children in the African country of Uganda to get a school education.

Unfortunately, he was unable to cross the waters between Orkney and Shetland in his kayak as it was deemed too choppy on Thursday and instead arrived in the isles on board the ferry.

Yesterday, the 51 year old cycled together with friend Michael Punter from Sumburgh to Toft before crossing Yell Sound in a kayak.

With the weather due to stay settled, Andrew should be able to complete his 1,180 mile journey on Saturday, when he will be joined by members of the Shetland Canoeing Club to reach Muckle Flugga.

It is only four weeks ago that he started his epic journey comprising of 828 miles cycling, 198 miles walking and 154 miles kayaking.

Yesterday he said: “Lots of people do Land’s End to John o’Groats, which is difficult enough, but I thought I would like to extend this.”

Andrew got involved in fundraising after he learnt that 90 per cent of disabled children in Africa do not go to school as disability is often seen as a taboo subject and children may be hidden away by their families.

“The target is £25,000, which will cover for one school in Uganda,” he said.

“That will pay for adapting the school like widening the doors and making changes to the WCs, train teachers to enable them to teach disabled children, and also employ an outreach worker to go out and persuade parents of disabled children to send their children to school.

“The money will help for quite a considerable number of years,” he added.

Andrew said he thoroughly enjoyed his trip from the southernmost to the most northerly point of the UK.

He said: “I guess the most memorable moment was when we had to start off from the island of Hoy very early and turned up in Stromness at about 8.30am in the morning, pulled our kayaks on to a beach and this gentleman came out and asked us ‘where have you come from?’

“He had actually heard about us on the radio that morning and invited us in for coffee, a cooked breakfast and a shower.

“It was just amazing for somebody to offer that spontaneously to two people who were completely wet and dripping all over the kitchen floor. He was fabulous, really good.”