A NEWPORT man – armed with water and a bottle of sun cream – walked more than 100 miles during the heatwave in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
When 24-year-old Joseph Draper joined a humanitarian convoy to Lviv in Ukraine earlier this year he felt inspired to do more to help those impacted by the conflict with Russia.
Joined by his friend, Joe Holt, he took on a gruelling challenge aiming to walk the entire Jurassic Coast - more than 100 miles - over four days.
This coincided with the UK’s hottest heatwave on record with the pair finishing the trek in five days – raising more than £1,000 to aid Ukraine.
“It was exhausting; it just seemed to go on and on and on,” said former Argus reporter Mr Draper, who now lives in Bournemouth.
“On the first day [July 16] we just tried to walk through it, but we got dehydrated and ill – I used old sun cream and it wasn’t effective; my legs looked like rhubarb.”
On day two the duo tried a new strategy, of getting up an hour before dawn and making as much progress as possible before the midday heat, at which point they took shelter, before setting off again at around 4pm, sometimes walking until midnight.
Although Mr Draper has dreaded camping en route he found that – as there was no rain – this wasn’t the worst part of the experience.
“We walked until we dropped,” he said.
“Camping wasn’t the worst part of it; it was the pain.
"By the end of the second day, I was aching from my shoulders to my toes, with blisters on my feet.
“It was also the exhaustion; we didn’t get much sleep and you would know you’d walked 17 miles and had another 10 to go.”
Although the challenge was difficult, particularly due to the weather – which caused a parked car to burst into flames – Mr Draper kept the people of Ukraine in his mind throughout.
“The people of Ukraine didn’t have a choice; they were thrown into [fleeing],” said Mr Draper.
“I reminded myself – no matter how bad I felt – there were people worse off. At the end of it I had a bed and a home; they didn’t.”
The duo raised more than £1,000 to send to aid worker, Sofia Sydorenko, in Ukraine and are still accepting donations.
Some of these were from people who they met along the way.
“People really connected with it,” added Mr Draper.
“People do still care about the people of Ukraine, and it was part of this mission to remind us of that.”
People can donate online at https://bit.ly/3uuAZlJ
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