I WILL walk 1000 miles this year!

I decided in January that I was going to get off my fat, lazy posterior and do more walking as I'd read a post on the Country Walking facebook page about taking a challenge this year and their suggestion was to walk 1000 miles between 1 January and 31 December 2015.  With that in mind I set up my own "Walk 1000 miles in 2015" facebook page and invited all my facebook friends to join me.

As we all know not everyone likes walking but a number of my friends decided to join me in this challenge and others that don't walk are supporting us by following our posts on the page. There are people in our group from all over the country - Leeds and London are two examples, and we're all cracking on and building up our totals.

South Africa - 5 November 2010

We flew to Cape Town on 5 November 2010 and after a evening 12 hour flight, landed tired but very excited knowing that if our previous treks were anything to go by, we were about to embark on another fantastic adventure and how right we were!

After meeting our trek and tour guides, we were bussed to Walkers Bay in Hermanus to stay overnight before heading off the next day to start our trek.  On the way to Hermanus we stopped in a beautiful parking area/view point for a lunch and then on to visit an African Penguin colony which was a very pleasant introduction to South Africa. 

Yes, I've got pink hair!!! well you just have to, don't you? 

Ingram Valley - Sunday 15 February 2015

We planned a walk for this Sunday, regardless of the weather and at a first glance, it was dull and miserable although not raining, snowing nor windy and it turned out to be quite nice in the end.

We decided we wanted to go along Ingram Valley to Linhope Spout as we knew the spout would be in full flow with all the rain and melting snow draining into it so we drove as far into the valley as possible and parked right at the end beside Hartside Farm to begin our walk.  

Ben Nevis - October 2008

On our return from our trek in Cuba (blog to follow at a later date)  we decided that we would continue to raise money for Breast Cancer Care and registered for a "local" walk (Ben Nevis) taking place on Sunday 26 October 2008.

Pat, Claire, Claire and myself (Brenda taking the photo)

Myself, my sister Pat, best friend Brenda and two niece-in-laws (the Claires) all set off from Newcastle railway station heading to Glasgow where we were picked up by the walk organisers and transported by bus to our hotel in Fort William where we would meet our fellow walkers and be told of the plan for the next day when we would be walking.  

Weekend at Hawkshead with a quick trip up Helvellyn

Over the last 8 years we made regular journeys to the Lake District with our touring caravan and often arranged to meet up with friends and family to go walking together, which in May 2012, the weekend of the Queen’s Gold Jubilee, is exactly what we did.  We pitched our caravan on a small farm site just outside of Hawkshead and were lucky to have really warm, sunny, weather for most of the weekend. 

Gavin and I were there all week and visited Hawkshead  and Coniston and also did a couple of walks in the local area but at the weekend we were joined by our friends Brenda and Paul and my nephew Ian and his lovely wife Claire. 

China - April 2007

We (myself, my sister Pat and two neice-in-laws, affectionately know as "The Claires" ) had been fund raising for Breast Cancer Care (BCC) since July 2006 and by April 2007 the time had come for us to depart on our adventure of a lifetime, and head for Beijing, China.  

Apart from the usual holiday travel to places in europe, China was the furthest place from home we'd ever been and due to the reason for going there, we were all filled with great excitement but also a little bit of fear.  What had we let ourselves in for?  Apart from speaking to someone who had done this trek before who told us it was the best experience she had ever had in her life, we really had no idea what to expect.  

After travelling to Heathrow Airport we were met by our BCC tour reps who sorted all out tickets/seating arrangements for the flight so after a 10 hour flight we finally landed at Beijing and were transported to our first overnight stay in a lodge near THE wall.  

To sum it up, we had the most fantastic but exhausting time.  Our first day started by climbing very steeply uphill, passing watchtower after watchtower along a very rough and stony path with uneven steps until gradually, it leveled off and began to descend again. In contrast to the renovated section nearby, this un-renovated part of the Wall is little visited.  The terrain on this day was quite tough due to parts of the Wall being worn down over the centuries but our efforts were rewarded with stunning views.