A special charity challenge will be taking place on Saturday.
Ed Hex plans to paddle, pedal and walk his way around the parish boundaries of Crossmichael.
In the process he hopes to raise awareness of the village’s heritage centre but also raise funds for the British Heart Foundation following the death of work colleague Ewan Hitchell.
Forty-five-year-old dad and postie Ewan died suddenly at home last month. He had been preparing to take on an Ultra Scotland race to raise funds for a defibrillator for Dalbeattie Star Youth Club.
Ed, who lives in Crossmichael, said: “I don’t know anybody that doesn’t know friends or family that have been affected by heart conditions.
“Recently, one of my colleagues at the Royal Mail died of a heart attack while planning to take part in an event of his own to raise money for defibrillators. I am dedicating my day to Hitch and his family.
“This is not my first boundary. In my twenties I started with the Stewartry one year, Wigtownshire the next and Dumfriesshire the one after that.
“I did a few more after that before taking a wee break for about 30 years. It turns out that long, pointless walks are still strangely addictive.”
Ed will start his journey at Crossmichael Church on Saturday morning before heading to the marina and paddling north up the river for a mile. He’ll then head across the hills to Knockvennie before getting into another canoe which he’ll take down the River Urr for five miles, heading through Old Bridge of Urr and under the Ramhill bridge.
The boundary then heads across the fields towards the A745 to Dalbeattie before heading for Castle Douglas near the health centre.
At this point Ed will get on his bike and follow a route that will finish
near Threave Rovers’ ground at Meadow Park.
Once there he’ll be back on a canoe along Carlingwark Lane canal to the River Dee, eventually getting all the way back to Crossmichael.
His trip will cover a total of 21 miles and people are welcome to join Ed on his journey as he promotes the work of the heritage centre.
He explained: “The heritage centre is housed in our church hall, which is open twice a week through the summer and in the neighbouring hearse house, which is kept open daily.
“The centre celebrates our local history and was set up as part of the Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership Scheme. The scheme has worked with a number of other projects from Carsphairn to Kirkcudbright and they are all worth
a look.
“Our heritage centre is run and managed by volunteers but the opening of the centre coincided with Covid and up to date we have not been able to attract many visitors.
"This is something we would like to change which is why I’m off round the parish on Saturday.”
Anyone who would like to sponsor Ed on the Crossmichael Boundary Bash can do so by going to https://sponsorme.charitiestrust.org/ and searching for Crossmichael.
