A Pipers coming tae your Toon

As Craig points out below "it's getting closer" and for us at this end it will be great to hear how they get on with their trek, however I don't envy the task ahead of them, but then they are fearless Kiltwalkers, so I'm sure they will be fine.

When we were looking for a "Piper" to take part in the Great Wall of China Kiltwalk then Craig McFarlane, a veteran piper of several Kiltwalks was an obvious candidate, and luckily for us he was able to take part. Craig is the fine figure of a Piper you see in the picture above with the Grey bunnet, goatee beard and black t-shirt and along with Karen and Iain is taking part in the Great Wall Kiltwalk.

We caught up with him a week or so ago to find out how the pre-trip planning and fund raising was getting on and this is what he had to say.

"It's getting closer and the task the three of us Karen, Iain and I are about to take on is beginning to sink in.

We leave on the 22nd September and I've got my insurance in place, my injections all injected and just need to get the final pieces of equipment in place.

I'm also now in possession on my Visa, which was a bit of a scare as it was initially held up due to me saying I was "Scottish" on the form, which they didn't quite seem to understand.

We fly from Glasgow to Amsterdam before catching what will be close to a ten hour flight to Beijing where we have one day to sort ourselves out after the flight, find out a bit about China and then we're offski.

Every day is quite a trek however it's one I'm really looking forward to and I'm sure there will be plenty of time for Piping along the way!

I'd like to thank Aleister at 'Custom Pipe Bag Covers' for sorting me out with a very dapper Kiltwalk 2012 Bag Cover and Bannatynes Pipe Bags for their kind help.

Finally thanks a million to the people who have donated so far. It's difficult enough to ask people to sponsor me for one Kiltwalk a year, which I did for the Hampden to Loch Lomond Kiltwalk in April this year, however I started raising again for China and I appreciate massively the help and sponsorship I've had . . . it is well noted my friends x"

You can donate to Craig's page at the usual Just Giving address followed by Craig-McFarlane0