Road Rage Cowboy

Martin Gill has always been a lover of tractors, with a small but cherished collection reflecting his passion for the machines. About a year ago, his old friend Marius Anderson, a skilled mechanic who had worked for a local Massey Ferguson dealer, asked about Martin’s 35x tractor, which had been sitting in need of attention since Martin bought it two years earlier.
Marius had an idea: if Martin funded the restoration, Marius would bring the 35x back to life and then drive it on a charity tractor run around the entire coast of mainland Britain — some 5,500 miles depending on how closely he could hug the shoreline. It was a bold, slightly mad plan, but Martin trusted Marius and agreed.
Over the following months, the pair stripped the tractor down to its bare bones and meticulously restored it. By the time the work was done, the 35x was running smoothly and ready for the road. On 22 July, Marius set off from Highland Tractors on the Black Isle to begin the journey. The east and south coasts are now behind him, the west coast is under way, and he’s just about to roll into Wales.
While Marius is in the driver’s seat, Martin is supporting the run from the Black Isle alongside two dedicated social media volunteers. The mission is to raise money for five causes with personal meaning to the team:
RSABI
RABI
SANE
Cancer Research UK
My Name’5 Doddie Foundation
Both men have a strong history of charity work — in 2022, Marius rode a motorbike from Aberdeenshire to Norway for Prostate Cancer UK, and Martin once raised a record-breaking £70,000 for the Highland Hospice’s Strictly Inverness.
Generosity has met them along the road — from free camping pitches to donated diesel — but the hardest part, they joke, has been getting those socks dry. A pair is often seen flapping from the back of the Massey as the miles roll by.