Walk of Hope Day 2 - Linlithgow to Edinburgh

Another long day.

After starting to walk along the Union Canal we did a short diversion to the Far From The Madding Crowd Bookshop in Linlithgow where Sally gave us a very warm welcome. We were invited into drink coffee and sign copies of our book.

We returned the canal till it intercepted the A8 which we followed into Edinburgh. Our walk had a background noise as vehicle horns sounded as their drivers sounded their support.

After we crossed the City Bypass more and more people met us on the pavement. All offered their support and more cash went into the bucket.

Welcome to Edinburgh on the A8 with Wille McBride

Our route took us up to the Castle Esplanade we’re we tried to record our daily video diary before we were (politely) moved along by the Scottish Heritage staff. We had to move anyway because our meeting with the Scottish First Minister, Humsa Yusaf, had been moved forward 30 minutes.

Our meeting with the First Minister was very warm and positive, he spoke to us as a dad first before we talked about what we had learned. He agreed with us that the only way to prevent future suicides to talk about suicide and suicide prevention. Hopefully our conversation will encourage the Scottish government to move towards making suicide prevention lessons a compulsory part of the school curriculum.

With the First Minister, Hunza Yusuf