This Scottish soccer superfan is walking across the country in a kilt. His last stop? Boston.
PROVIDENCE — He walked 500 miles. Then he walked 500 more.
For Craig Ferguson, that was only the beginning.
Since late February, the Scottish soccer superfan has been walking across America, more than 3,100 miles from Los Angeles to Boston, to accomplish two goals: raise money for mental health services in his country, and arrive in Boston in time for Scotland’s opener against Haiti on Saturday — the Scots’ first World Cup match in 28 years.
As a vehicle for celebration and donation, the 22-year-old is hiking the world’s fourth-widest nation. He is believed to be the first to go coast-to-coast in a kilt.
“Adventure, that’s the heart of it,” said Ferguson, a content creator from Paisley, the town east of Glasgow known for its teardrop textile. “Being able to tell my kids one day that I walked across an entire country like the US is pretty cool to me.”
So far, the Tartan Trek has generated more than £400,000 ($535,400) in donations to Scottish Action for Mental Health, a nationwide charity. Ferguson — who in advance of Euro 2024 did a charity walk of 41 days and 1,000-plus miles from Glasgow to Munich — stepped up to honor a close friend’s father, who died by suicide seven years ago.
On Wednesday morning, Ferguson was greeted in Providence by a pair of bagpipers and a few dozen supporters on Kennedy Plaza. After posing for selfies and chatting for an hour, he departed for the Massachusetts border, into Seekonk, on his way to Boston Common.
When he arrives Friday, it will be his 109th day on the road. He has taken six rest days in that time. His longest day covered more than 40 miles, some 82,000 steps, and nearly 12 hours. He has climbed nearly 3,000 feet on some days while burning upward of 4,500 calories.
Ferguson and friend Matthew Allan are staying in an RV they rented back in Los Angeles. They plan their routes hours in advance, visit local markets, and fuel up. Ferguson wears Brooks shoes, a Kiprun hydration pack, collapsible walking poles, and a blue-and-red kilt with Scottish and American flag patches on it.
Ferguson’s energy level is high, he said, given how close he is to the finish line.
“Thinking you can do it is one thing, but knowing is different,” he said. “There could have been things that stopped me at every single step. I could have met a bear. I could have been bitten by a snake. But I believed I could do it. That belief has carried me every single step.”
Allan, who took a break from his gig as a project manager to support his pal — “I didn’t really have a choice,” he joked — has been a friend since he and Ferguson were 4 years old. Allan handles the driving, vehicular concerns, laundry, route-planning, and budgeting. He drives ahead, and Ferguson walks to meet him.
Every mile of the journey — save for a few when his Garmin smartwatch dropped out — has been recorded to Ferguson’s Strava account. He began on Feb. 24, walking 28 miles from the Santa Monica shore, across Los Angeles via Beverly Hills and Hollywood, to the Alhambra neighborhood. The next day, he went 35 miles to Rancho Cucamonga.
Temperatures in the Mojave Desert above 100 degrees nearly wilted him. The Scottish, he noted, aren’t built for the heat.
“To be honest,” Ferguson said, rolling up his sleeve to show a distinct line, “I’ve got a tan on me that for a Scotsman is unheard of. It’s been a journey and a half.”
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It took him eight days to cross California. He took his first rest, in Las Vegas, on Day 10. Onward to Utah, then he reached Colorado on Day 26. He reached his highest point, 12,026 feet above sea level, on March 29 at Loveland Ski Area. Temperatures were below freezing.
After the Kansas flatlands, he experienced the nastiest weather of the trip in Missouri. His Day 63 walk, which began in Warrenton, Mo., was cut short because of 60-mile-per-hour wind gusts and risk of tornadoes, hail, and flooding. He only covered 16 miles, nearly 34,000 steps, in 4½ hours.
He went through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. On Day 91, he arrived in Washington, D.C., to a slew of cheering Scots. He hoofed it through Baltimore and Philadelphia before reaching New York City.
He has kept the partying to a minimum, he said, knowing he had to be in Boston by June 12. But in big cities — New York, in particular — the Tartan Army following his journey on social media has encouraged him to have a few pints.
“I wasn’t going to get carried away,” he said, “but they started singing Scottish songs.”
The above-referenced Proclaimers, the twin sons of Leith, posted a video on social media supporting their fellow traveler. Ferguson’s namesake, the former late-night TV host of no relation, met him in Manhattan.
“See, the idea that Scottish people are clever, it’s not true,” the elder Craig Ferguson said in a video.
“We’re all a wee bit mental deep down,” replied the younger one.
Last week, some in comment sections mocked Ferguson for trying to go on foot from MetLife Stadium, the home of the World Cup final, to New York City. The stadium, in East Rutherford, N.J., is surrounded by highways. Google Maps can’t find a walking route to recommend.
“For months now, Americans have been telling me you cannot walk to New York City from here,” Ferguson said in a response video, with the stadium in the background. “Well, if there’s one lesson you should learn in life, it’s that you should never tell a Scotsman what he can and can’t do.”
Not this one, anyway.
“I’m glad that I’m delusional enough to think I can walk across countries,” Ferguson said. “Because sometimes, delusion gets you quite far.”
On that note: He has told interviewers that Scotland is going to win the World Cup, but he acknowledges he’s half-kidding.
“But I do think we’ll get out of the group and do really well,” he said. “Scotland will definitely be a dark horse, for sure.”
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