Widow raises nearly £11k during walk at Great Wall of China

But determined mother-of-one Louise Platt, who lost her husband Neil to motor neurone disease over two years ago, smashed her fundraising target almost four times over to help fund research into the disease.

The 37-year-old from Morningside was part of a group of 18 fundraisers from across the UK to take part in the challenge, all of whom were raising money for the MNDA (Motor Neurone Disease Association).

Louise's husband Neil died at the age of 34 in February 2009 - just 18 months after she had given birth to their first child Oscar, now three. Louise had promised Neil she would fight to find a cure for the disease.

The former George Watson's College pupil, who grew up in Musselburgh, had initially set herself a fundraising target of 2995 but managed to raise a staggering 10,818.

Around half of the money was raised through a quirky website she devised where family and friends went into an online pub and bought Neil a "posthumous pint" - and bags of pork scratchings.

Louise also organised a special Mamma Mia fundraising night at the Dominion Cinema in Morningside in April.

Louise, who is now considering trekking Machu Picchu next year, said: "I'm feeling really pleased. I doubt that I will be able to raise that amount a second time but you never know."

The trek, which was organised by the MNDA, started at Mutianyu and passed through Black Dragon Paw Park, Gubeikou, Jinshanling and Juyongguan.

"I applied for it when I was feeling really low," said Louise. "There are so many dates within a year that get you down - birthdays, Father's Day, Christmas, Valentine's Day, your child's birthday and the day that the person died.

"My own birthday sent me on an unexpected downer and I just decided that I needed to do something for myself."

Louise signed up for the challenge in November last year, shortly after her 37th birthday at the end of October. She said: "The trekking was great. It was really varied - restored sections with lots of tourists and other sections where the scenery was just awesome. To do that with a group of people who understood your story was a fantastic experience."

The group, which trekked part of the wall in Beijing province last month, walked an average of 15 to 18km every day for five days. They stayed in a lodge and hotels along the way.

Louise added: "There were about three or four of us who were widows and a couple whose partners were still suffering. There were people whose parents had died from motor neurone disease too. It was a mixed group but they all had that one common thread.

"It was good for me to meet other people in the same situation because it's a rare disease."The fundraising gets you out of your shell because you have a goal to work towards."