Former Cambridge captain takes on round-Britain charity walk

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Charles’ Walk

The entire coastline of Britain, January 2nd-November 30th (est.)

People talk about new resolutions and new plans to usher in a new year, but very few will be following in the footsteps of former Cambridge Rugby Fives captain Charles Compton in 2018. On January 2nd, he will start a walk at London’s Tower Bridge that will take him around the whole coastline of the UK – and take him most of the year to complete.

The route covers over 6000 miles – more than the distance from London to Tokyo – and Charles (pictured above, right, when winning the 2017 Executioners doubles tournament) is undertaking the walk for a few reasons, but one of the most important is to raise money for the Mental Health Foundation.

It’s an organisation very close to Charles’ heart, because his own life has been significantly affected by mental health issues over the last four years. We would try and describe the impact, but he details everything on his own website in language more eloquent, evocative and moving than we could ever manage, and we urge you to read what he has to say. (You can visit his website by clicking on the link at the bottom of this article)

Charles remains an active Fives player, both with the Executioners and the Old Eastbournians, and the RFA is fully behind his efforts to highlight what can all too often be a hidden issue in today’s society; and, we urge all our members to support him in any way they can.

In the first instance, Charles is looking for donations – and he is already more than 10% of the way towards his target of £10,000 – but he would also welcome offers of a meal, bed, or a camping pitch along any of the route. And, we imagine, he would be delighted if anyone wanted to join him at any step of the way.

During the course of the walk, Charles will be keeping everyone updated through a blog on his website and via Instagram. Sadly, we think there are precious few Fives courts on the coast (those in Edinburgh are perhaps the closest), but we hope that any RFA members who live on or near the planned route will be able to help him on this most audacious and worthy of challenges.

For more details, click on these links:

The Charles’ Walk website

Visit this page to donate

Charles’ Instagram feed

Charles’ page on Facebook