East Lothian’s most recognisable peaks may not be the highest in the land but they appear significantly bigger when on all fours.

Richard Macaulay took on the challenge of scaling North Berwick Law, Byres Hill and Traprain Law for charity.

But rather than simply walk up the three hills, a total distance of 1,638 metres, he crawled to the top – and all in a single day.

The 35-year-old took on the challenge, calling it crawl4cure, to raise money for WaterAid.

The charity, founded in 1981, is an international non-governmental organisation, focused on water, sanitation and hygiene improvements.

Richard, of Haddington, said: “Seven hundred million people don’t have access to clean water. That is a crazy, scary figure and I said to WaterAid that fixing this is going to be an uphill battle.

“I was literally crawling up a hill and crawl4cure rolled off the tongue.

“It was to promote movement outdoors and raise money for WaterAid, which we have done.”

Scaling the hills took just over 45 minutes in total with the finish line at North Berwick Law.

He conquered Byres Hill in nine minutes, 10 seconds; Traprain Law in 19 minutes; and North Berwick Law in 17 minutes, 30 seconds.

Richard described Traprain Law as the most difficult of the three to ‘leopard crawl’ as it had fewer steep sections.

The Nungate Gardens resident started using crawling, with his knees not touching the ground, as an exercise after suffering from back pain for more than three years. Once he started using the technique, he found his back pain disappeared.

He said: “It was quite a good exercise, and demanding, and I was spending more and more time doing it.

“I grew up in North Berwick. We have got these beautiful walks and hills and I thought it would be nice to explore them further and raise some money.”

Richard, who runs Bodycarewecare, a business specialising in knowledge in fitness, movement, food, healthy lifestyle, motivation and rehabilitation in Haddington along with wife Karen, added: “There is a horrible statistic where 35 per cent of children are not making it to five years old. It is going to hit home for anybody but my son was five at the time as well.

“That is horrible when you have got statistics like that and we see it on television and people need to make a difference.”

The unusual challenge attracted some odd looks but Richard described it as “a conversation starter”.

He also caught the attention of the Exmoor ponies who live on Traprain Law and North Berwick Law, with the four-legged animals edging closer to get nearer their new ‘friend’.

Richard said: “In practice runs, I had dogs jumping on me and people stopping to ask if I was alright or asking me what I was training for.”

More than £1,200 has already ben raised by the challenge. To support Richard and WaterAid, go to justgiving.com/fundraising/bodycarewecare