About
Andy Mountney is the Head of Loyalty and Promotions at Polhill Garden Centre on the A21 outside Sevenoaks, Kent. From Saturday 16 May 2026 he will walk the entire South West Coast Path on foot, end to end, from Minehead in Somerset round Land's End and along the Jurassic Coast to South Haven Point in Dorset. He is walking with a friend, Richard Card; his wife Kate and their dog Jasper drive logistics. The fundraiser is for the small charity that helped Andy and Kate after Kate was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer three years ago.
The cause is MPN Voice. It is a UK charity that lives under the wing of Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation because it is too small to stand alone, and it serves people with Myeloproliferative Neoplasms. MPNs are a group of rare blood cancers in which the bone marrow makes too many of one or more types of blood cell. Patients live with the conditions for years or decades. Because the diagnoses are uncommon, families struggle to find others with the same one. MPN Voice is the place that closes that gap. The walk pays the charity back for what it gave Andy and Kate at the start.
The plan is the walk done in 52 days. That is roughly a half marathon every day, on a trail whose combined climbs add up to four times the height of Mount Everest. Most end-to-enders take two months or more at a slower pace, so the demanding part of the challenge is the rhythm rather than the route. Andy and Richard cover every mile on foot. Kate and Jasper meet them at points along the path. There is no event-management company, no commercial sponsor on the route, no chase team beyond one couple, one friend, and the dog who gives the team its name.
Behind the walk is a small, mostly hand-built operation. One Instagram account, one Facebook page, one JustGiving page, one supportive employer that reposts him, one beneficiary charity that has shared the team on its national channels. No regional press, no national press, no broadcast feature. The audience watching him leave Minehead is small enough to fit in a few classrooms. Surfacing him in the week he sets off changes what 52 days of daily content can raise.
Highlights
- Route
- Minehead, Somerset to South Haven Point, Dorset, the full 630-mile South West Coast Path
- Schedule
- Starts Saturday 16 May 2026, around 52 days at half-marathon-a-day pace, finish mid-July 2026
- Beneficiary
- MPN Voice, charity number 1160316-15, a linked charity of Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation
- JustGiving
- £6,523.18 raised of £10,000 target from 117 donations as of 9 May 2026
Deeper Dive
The choice of MPN Voice is the load-bearing detail. It is registered charity 1160316-15, a linked charity of Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation, and exists specifically to provide clear information, peer support, and research funding for people with Myeloproliferative Neoplasms. Three years ago Kate Mountney was diagnosed with MPN U, the unclassifiable sub-type that does not cleanly fit polycythaemia vera, essential thrombocythaemia, or myelofibrosis. MPN Voice was the place she and Andy found in those early weeks. Andy's published quote is plain: information, guidance, and reassurance when they needed it. That is what the £10,000 target is for.
The fundraising stack is small and focused. One JustGiving page, no parallel Crowdfunders, no separate equipment-fund page. As of 9 May 2026 the page sits at £6,523.18 of a £10,000 target across 117 donations and 118 supporters, with the walk still seven days away. Recent named supporters include Andy and Sharon Stevenson at £30, Jenny Card with a message to both walkers, an anonymous £100 donor, and a flow of smaller named contributions in the £20 to £50 range. The simplicity of the stack is the design choice: one walker, one cause, one page.
The cadence is dictated by the trail. The South West Coast Path is 630 miles. Done in 52 days that is an average just under 20 kilometres a day, which on this terrain is hard. Cumulative ascent over the route is widely cited at around 115,000 feet, the four-Everests figure both Polhill and MPN Voice quote. The route itself runs Somerset, North Devon, the full crooked Cornish coast around Land's End, South Devon, and the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, finishing on Poole Harbour. The schedule is the thing being attempted. The schedule is what makes it an Event in the broader sense.
The asymmetry between footprint and ambition is the gem. Ninety-four followers on Instagram. One regional employer reposting on its own modest channel. The beneficiary charity itself reposting on a 1,000-follower national account. A 117-donor JustGiving page. From there, the team plans to walk a national trail end to end at half-marathon pace for nearly two months, raising money for a charity most UK fundraisers have never heard of. There is no agent, no PR firm, no sponsor logo on the route. The hand-built scaffolding is the work.
In Their Words
“Like many people facing a diagnosis, it was frightening and difficult to understand. MPN Voice provided reliable information, guidance and reassurance at a time when we needed it most.”
“We want to give something back to MPN Voice for the support they gave us. If we can help raise money that supports other families and contributes to research, then every mile will be worth it.”