'Great outdoors helped me heal after tragedy'

Darren on gruelling trek after deaths of dad and sister

- STUART MCFARLANE

A Cowie handyman is using a gruelling cross-country fundraiser to help fight back from the most tragic of family heartbreak.

Darren McKenna-Cullen is taking on the challenge of walking from John o’Groats to Land’s End - but in an added twist, he is only making use of multiple long-distance trails across the length and breadth of the UK.

The trek-which will see Darren take on more than 2000 miles of various terrain - is being completed for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, a charity which grants life-changing wishes for children facing critical illnesses.

But fuelling him as much as the desire to help those less fortunate is battling his internal demons following the deaths of his father and sister within a year of each other in 2020 and 2021.