By Paddy Walsh
Charity fundraiser and adventurer, John Wilkie, yesterday undertook a few laps of the Letterkenny Town Park on Good Friday.
Small fry for the local man who is a daily walker and has climbed Errigal Mountain on over 80 occasions.
But there’ll be nothing small about his task in early May – a challenging trek to Everest Base Camp on the borders of Nepal and Tibet.
Apart from the achievement itself, John, who works as a care assistant, is raising money for a hugely important organisation, Cancer Care West.
Not his first arduous climb – three years ago he scaled the impressive heights of Mount Kilimanjaro, also for charitable purposes.
His training ground – though at a height of 751 metres, ground might not be the most appropriate term – is the spectacular home grown Errigal Mountain.
“I’ve climbed it over eighty times at this stage and it never fails to surprise. Apart from the exercise value and the scenery around you when you get to the top, you meet an amazing bunch of people,” says John.
“Just recently up there I met six women from California. What’s the chances? One of them asked “do you know where the rest rooms are?’ I had to tell them there are none.”
John Wilkie
But that is hopefully about to change with the provision of portaloos at Donegal’s highest mountain.
“The climb itself is very doable and there are car parking facilities so we just need the toilets there. Sometimes it’s the small things we don’t get right. If you provide the services for the people they will come.”
Overseas tourists are frequent climbers of Errigal, the Letterkenny man maintains, and apart from Americans, he has in recent weeks met German and French people on the slopes.
“And then there’s Mickey Blake from Letterkenny. He continues to do it at the age of 80. He’s a great man for the mountains.
“We’re all here for some reason. Finding your wee goals, keeping fit, raising a bit of money for charity, keeping diabetes away and the sugar levels down and living a better life.
“Look at the T.V. these days. Our world’s in chaos. But if you go out to Glenveagh there’s no chaos, if you go up Errigal, there’s no chaos. Nature is the nurture that we all need.”
His own charity exploits have been well documented. “The reason I love doing stuff for charity is because you’re giving something to these charities, giving something back to society.
“I met a young man of 20 recently with brain cancer. And I said to myself, now I know why I do these things. The money goes to help people through counselling, therapy, and reflexology.
“There are an amazing bunch of people involved in Cancer Care West and it’s vital we support them.”
And support them John Wilkie will when he sets off on May 1 for his big adventure at Everest Base Camp.
He will travel via Dublin Airport to Abu Dhabi and on to Kathmandu and Lukla Airport. “The most dangerous airport in the world so, of course, I’d be going there.”
And the trek will take him then to Everest Base Camp. “I’m hoping to sleep there overnight if it’s possible. The whole thing is going to take between 14 to 15 days all told.
“I’ll be doing it in the company of a group of people from all over the world. It’s going to be some adventure.”
He has been raising funds in the meantime and following yesterday’s four-lapper at the Town Park, he will base himself this Easter Saturday morning at Simpsons Supermarket from 9am helping to sell tickets to add to the funding for Cancer Care West.
Get along on Saturday and add your support to these latest charity events and the man who continues to reach new heights – 5,200 metres in the case of Everest Base Camp.