Man loves whisky so much he’s cycling 2,000 miles to every distillery in Scotland

By Sarah Ward via SWNS

A whisky fan is cycling to every single malt distillery in Scotland - covering 2,000 miles.

Rob Richardson, 36, will set off from the most southerly distillery, Bladnoch, Dumfries and Galloway, to the most northerly, Saxa Vord, Unst, Shetland, via all 140 operating single-malt distilleries in the country.

The jaunt starts on May 12 and Rob hopes to finish up at the end of June.

Rob, an outdoor instructor from Newtongrange, Midlothian, is raising money for charities including the Scottish Ambulance Service and Cash for Kids.

Rob said: "I have previously done expeditions in Canada, Scandinavia, Tanzania, but with lockdown I was starting to get itchy feet to do something big again.

"Over a couple of drams a while ago I thought about doing this.

"Having moved to Scotland 10 years ago I embraced that part of the culture here.

"Traveling all over Scotland for my job I thought it would be cool to cycle it.

"I thought, ‘why not cycle the length of Scotland’ and realized that there are distilleries near to the most northern and southern points and that there are a few distilleries on the way between them.

"Then I noticed that if you go a bit off-track you can get more and more.

"So I thought I should therefore do my original plan and visit them all.

"I’m also including a gin distillery in Shetland because they plan to open a whisky distillery there in the future, and I would have short changed myself if I didn’t go there now.”

Rob added: "As I work all over Scotland the pessimist in me feels like I might need the Scottish Air Ambulance Service at some point.

"I have been involved in rescues in England so I know what an incredible service it is.

"And because I work in the Lothians I have seen the help that Cash for Kids has done for local children.

"With government cuts and the cost of living crisis they will be needed even more in the coming years so I wanted to help them.

"I hope to raise £10,000.”

Rob is also calling on locals to join him on his Midlothian leg on Sunday, May 15.

He said: "One of my main sponsors is in Peebles, Cycle Law Scotland, they plan to send staff to join me at Tweedbank, as have some friends. I’m meeting them at the Reivers Distillery at 9.30 A.M so other people can join me.

"We will cycle to East Lothian to visit a distillery, then back to Midlothian to finish that day at home.”

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