Warwickshire farmer walking Meridian line for charity

A farmer from south Warwickshire is walking along the Meridian line from England to France in order to raise money for an eye-care charity.

David Henderson – also know as Merdianman– set off from Moreton-in-Marsh, Warwickshire on 9 July and has since walked to Peacehaven nr Brighton.

He plans to cross to Le Havre after walking 300 lengths of Brighton Pier to compensate for the distance across the English Channel to Le Havre. He will then pick up the Meridian just south of Paris. His trip will end his trip in Lourdes.

The meridian line (or zero degree longitude line) is an imaginary line which runs from the North Pole to the South Pole and divides the eastern and western hemispheres of the world,

Mr Hendersen said he had decided to make the walk as he had recently been diagnosed with type two diabetes and so needed to do more exercise.

“I chose the Meridian as a guideline when I went to the Royal Greenwich Observatory, and I had not heard of anyone else doing it,” he said.

“I chose Lourdes as my destination because I like France and it’s where miracles might happen, and it’s close to the Meridian.”

The charity he is fundraising for is called Orbis which strives to eliminate avoidable blindness and restore sight in the developing world.

Orbis works closely with local communities, governments and hospitals to design programmes that increase local skills, improve health care facilities and foster awareness of eye health.

You can keep up-to-date with David’s progress by visiting his blog (he can see the page views with his telephone which is helping to motivate him).. There is also a link to a page when you can sponsor him. Or why not leave him a message on our forums.