'I may be gone a while': The Royal Navy veteran walking 7,500 miles for the Gurkhas

  • Video report and article by Jon Hill

It's 1967 and Jim Morton is leading the unremarkable life of a seven-year-old in Sheffield.And then he stumbles on a television programme about the lighthouses dotting Great Britain's coastline. 

It lights a fire in young Jim's imagination; flames fanned by his father Walter's purchase of a road atlas, which also features those same lighthouses.

Jim vows to visit every one. And now, aged 61, he's finally achieving his dream - by foot.

Jim, who served five years in the Royal Navy, is now 4,800 miles into a 7,500 mile epic trek around the entire coastline of mainland Great Britain.

He set off from his home in Penistone, South Yorkshire, in April 2021 and is averaging more than 20 miles a day - with some rest days.

He is supported by his backup crew in the family motorhome; wife Sue and West Highland terriers Shona and Maisie.

Jim said: "When I was seven I saw a TV programme about lighthouses and I was absolutely fascinated by them and my dad that year got the AA Reader's Digest Book of the Road.

"I think everybody had that map book and I looked at it and it showed all the lighthouses and I thought I'm going to walk round all of Great Britain and I'll be able to see all the lighthouses. Well it didn't seem far in a book  when you were seven in 1967."

Jim was inspired by a programme about lighthouses

Jim has so far raised more than £12,000 for the Gurkha Welfare Trust, which provides financial, medical and development aid to Gurkha veterans, their families and communities.

Jim added: "The reason why I'm raising funds for the Gurkhas is because my first ship in the Royal Navy was called HMS Gurkha, which had Gurkhas onboard.

"I have had an affinity with Gurkhas since 1977 when I first met them. They lost everything in the earthquake in Nepal 2015 so any money raised will help rebuild the country.” 

There have been some scrapes along the route.

Jim in a neck brace after he fell 20 feet

In Scotland a  cliff collapsed without warning. Jim fell 20 feet, was knocked unconscious and had to be airlifted to safety but he resumed the trek after three days in hospital.

On another occasion, Jim got into a ditch full of water to rescue a trapped sheep.

He said: "I thought ‘I can’t leave it, I can’t let it die.”

Jim's adventures continue. You can read more about them here.