Scottish teen’s gruelling challenge to support Mary’s Meals
The West Highland Way is Scotland's most famous long-distance walking route but it is not for the faint-hearted. The 96-mile route from the outskirts of Glasgow to Fort William usually takes walkers five or six days of hard slog. So when 13-year-old Cameron Hutchison set out to cycle it in one go - to raise money for Mary's Meals - he knew it wouldn't be easy.
The Edinburgh teenager says he wasn't even sure it was possible for a child to complete such a tough challenge. The route is along the shores of Loch Lomond and across Rannoch Moor - one of the last wildernesses in Europe - then onto a zig-zag ascent of the Devil's Staircase footpath in Glencoe to reaching the final destination.
Cameron, accompanied by his dad Colin, says he trained for 18 months on indoor spin bikes as well in the Pentland Hills, near his home, before setting out from his granny's house in Milngavie, with a stash of sweets to keep his energy up.
Cameron says he had to eat every 15 minutes to keep up his energy levels. "I lived off sweets for a good 24 hours," he said. “Adults can store more food and energy in their body than a kid can.” His father Colin said: "We didn't know how long a 13-year-old could go so until we did it we had no idea how his energy was going to last."
Although cycling at midsummer there was still a period when Cameron and his dad were cycling in the dark. "Between Beinglas and Glencoe Mountain Resort it was just a huge expanse of darkness, there was nothing, there was no-one. It was so weird and was the first time I had had that, ever. I had a headtorch but at the forest in Crainlarich my shadow would appear on a tree and I would literally jump out of my skin."
Cameron and his dad had rain for eight hours during the night which was mentally and physically draining. Cameron, who has raised more than £3,200 for our movement, said "I kept going because I felt if I had stopped I would have let everyone down, including myself. At the bottom of the Devil's Staircase I was thinking 'what am I doing?' I was thinking 'I'm not in a state to do this' but I kept on going. Then about eight miles to go my mum and grandpa gave me one last restock of fuel and wished us luck.
He reached the finish line in 25.5 hours (followed by a well earned sleep!)
Cameron is such an inspiration with his dedication and commitment to achieving his goals - and we are grateful to him for the £3,200 he raised to support our work - thank you!
"I have never done anything like that before where I have put all my hopes onto one thing so it was a bit surreal finishing what I had been working towards for so long. When you're doing it you're not really processing it, so it was only when I woke up the next day I I thought 'wow, I've just done the West Highland Way and I'm 13'. 
There are many different ways you can help by donating your time, money, thoughts and prayers.