Bored professor walks 1,000 miles to Cornwall

A retired professor has walked 1,000 miles to Cornwall – setting off from Switzerland and walking through France before ending up in Perranporth. Rainer Zust, who is 65, his partner Stephanie, and two dogs Leo and Nettie, completed the epic walk in just 69 days.

Rainer said he was inspired at the start of the pandemic when he daydreamed about surfing in Cornwall. He said to his dog, Leo: “Come on, let’s walk to Perranporth in Cornwall.”

Since then he dreamed of the walk “for a long time” and decided he would do it for real. To add rhyme to reason, he decided to accept sponsors and raised money for a children’s hospice in the process.

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Rainer said: “For a long time, we had dreamed of a long-distance hike to Cornwall. I often went surfing in Perranporth with my sons and walked on the coastal path with Stephanie. The South-West of England is a wonderful region for all of us.”

While in Switzerland, the couple raised money for Flamingo Children’s Hospice, which will be the first of its kind in Switzerland. They raised nearly £50,000.

The hospice, planned in Fällanden, Zürich, will be open to children and young people up to the age of 18 with life-limiting illnesses as well as their parents and siblings. The building of the hospice was all made possible by the Swiss Children’s Hospice Foundation, and construction is fully underway.

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While walking through the UK, the couple were also fundraising for Children’s Hospice South West (CHSW), and have raised around £1,000. The couple paid for the whole trip themselves to ensure that all money raised was going directly to the two causes.

The longest day of walking they completed was 31km, and they reached elevations of 600m while walking around West Bay and Lyme Regis.

“I had a severely ill child myself who luckily survived thanks to the help of the Children’s Hospital in Zurich.”

Rainer’s youngest of four sons needed heart surgery as a child, and is now in good health.

Beth Rudge, area fundraiser for CHSW said: “I was quite surprised when we initially received communications from Rainer explaining his unique challenge and how he would not only be raising funds for Switzerland’s first-ever children’s hospice but also Children’s Hospice South West. Rainer and Stephanie are such positive and inspiring people and we sincerely thank them for every mile they walked and for supporting the work of CHSW for families locally.”

For more information visit: www.walkingforshortlives.ch/en/

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