{"id":108594,"date":"2026-07-27T18:08:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T18:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/108594\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T18:08:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T18:08:06","slug":"ellesmere-port-hiker-completes-mont-blanc-charity-trek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/108594\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellesmere Port hiker completes Mont Blanc charity trek"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Ollie Thomson said he was recovering well after the 170-km trek, which took in parts of France, Italy and Switzerland and saw him climb five 4,000-metre peaks in the Alps over a period of just seven days.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He said: \u201cI did the Cumbrian Way last year, which is a 130km route through the Lake District, so it\u2019s kind of similar, but it\u2019s not the same altitude or distance per day as the Tour du Mont Blanc.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cI\u2019ve been hiking and mountain climbing since I was 14 or 15, since my accident I couldn\u2019t play most contact sports, so it\u2019s the most accessible for me.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The 19-year-old has become a season hiker, but at 13 he was involved in an incident with a car while riding on his bike, which saw him require specialist treatment at the children\u2019s hospital.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cA doctor from Alder Hey took me on [at around 14] because they had specialised paediatricians, equipment and staff, and I stayed there until I was around 18,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ollie had been hit by the vehicle, which had reversed from a driveway, and come off the bike, landing on his knees.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>Ollie Thomson has completed his remarkable 170km trek through the Alps. (Image: O Thomson)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  After more than a month in hospital he was found to have blood clots \u2013 likely to have been caused by the trauma of being hit by the car.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  This led to several surgeries at Alder Hey, whose care and dedication were a comfort to him and his family.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ollie said: \u201cI\u2019m really grateful for the nursing staff and the doctors and support staff, when I went [the hospital] was classed as underfunded, but the care was still amazing.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cI\u2019m hoping by raising awareness and funds that it will only get better for other kids in the future.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>Ollie Thomson has completed his remarkable 170km trek through the Alps. (Image: O Thomson)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Along with raising more than \u00a31,300 for Alder Hey Children\u2019s Charity, Ollie was able to tick off one of his dream routes.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to Tour du Mont Blanc, it was kind of on a bucket list for when I got older,\u201d Ollie said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cI\u2019d finished my college course this time last year and will be starting university in September and I knew I wanted to do one big trip [this year] so this allowed me to travel while challenging myself to raise money and awareness.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ollie said the support from the community had been \u2018amazing\u2019, and seeing donations and messages \u2013 when he was able to get signal \u2013 along the trail helped to keep him motivated.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He added: \u201cI woke up at like 5am on the last day to push on for the last bit, and a lot of people were starting the trail as I got there to finish and they congratulated me.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cMy mum hasn\u2019t really stopped talking about it,\u201d he laughs.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cI sent her pictures while I was away and she\u2019s printed them off, I\u2019d be surprised if someone on my road doesn\u2019t know.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cI reached out to the British Mountaineering Council, who I\u2019d taken out insurance with, to ask if anyone else my age had completed it, and they said as far as they know no one my age had done something like this, which with my condition makes it feel all the more special.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  You can donate to Ollie\u2019s appeal at: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justgiving.com\/page\/ollie-for-alderney?utm_medium=FR&amp;utm_source=CL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Oliver Thomson is fundraising for Alder Hey Children&#8217;s Charity<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ollie Thomson said he was recovering well after the 170-km trek, which took in parts of France, Italy&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-108594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alps","tag-alps"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116993281567696508","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}