CARNOCK man Ross Graham is preparing for a volunteering trip of a lifetime to Borneo by trekking more than 800 kilometres across Scotland.

Only just back from taking a year out of his work as an electrical engineer at BAE systems to travel around New Zealand, he has decided to quit the day job and follow his dream to travel.

He has been accepted on a project run by Raleigh International where he will help with environmental conservation and community projects.

However, to take part, he has to raise £3,450 and has come up with a plan to walk from the Scottish Borders to Cape Wrath, a total distance of 864km.

Ross, 22, is looking forward to both challenges.

"Raleigh International do programmes which sounded really amazing so I looked a bit further into it and decided it looked great and thought I am just going to go for it," he said. " I applied and was accepted so decided to go for it so I handed in my notice at work.

"It is a factory I work in and people have been here for 30 or 40 years and pretty much everyone said go for it and do it while you are young."

He will head out to Malaysian Borneo in February and is confident his engineering skills will be put to good use.

"I have learned lot of good experiences here so that will stand me in good stead," he said. "They split in into three week segments and it is 10 weeks in total.

"The first three weeks is the community phase so I will be working in remote communities helping maybe install fresh water pumps or helping build a small bridge across a river.

"Then the next few weeks is an environmental phase where we are helping to replant some of the forest there because it is something ridiculous like in the last 30 years, they have lost 25 per cent of the rainforest because it is used for a lot of the world's timber.

"The last phase is the adventure phase when all the volunteers have got a chance to show leadership skills and develop them when trekking through the jungle with guides and each volunteer will get a chance to lead the group."

Due to finish up at work later this month, former Queen Anne High pupil Ross will then focus on his fundraising trek which will take place in October. He has already had maps donated to him by Ordnance Survey and is currently looking for sponsorship from local businesses.

"I decided to come up with some crazy challenge, something huge that will test me so I had a look online and there is a series of trails that make up the Scottish National Trail," he added.

"It could take me 35 to 40 days. I will be taking my tent with me and doing a lot of camping. There are quite a few bothies along the way and in some of the more southern stages I will be able to stay in hostels.

"It is going to be a challenge but I love hiking and I love being active and am really looking forward to it."

If you'd like to help Ross raise funds, visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ross-graham22.