Many thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

All donations received from this page will be used to support a Zurich Community Trust project at Vitalise, near Southampton, Hampshire where we are renovating an area once occupied by a pond and creating a sensory garden in its place. For more information regarding Vitalise please go to:-http://www.vitalise.org.uk/About-Us/Overview.aspx

To help raise the final funds required to complete this project, I have taken on the challenge to complete a sponsored walk and geocache* hunt. My intention is to walk approx. 50 miles in 3 days, finding approx. 180 geocaches* along the way. I am planning to complete this challenge 5th to 7th June 2010. 

* Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden ontainers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. For more information go to :- http://www.geocaching.com/

(Updated 04/06/2010)

My challenge commences tomorrow and I am feeling both excited and apprehensive at the same time. Looking at the forecast, I am going to have to contend with some variable weather conditions as well as the variable terrain. Saturday is looking very hot so an early start will be needed so that I can stop during the middle part of the day if the heat gets too much. Sunday and Monday are predicted as sunshine and showers - with the possibility of heavy and/or prolonged periods of rain - its hard for them to predict where these will occur at the moment so I might get away with it if I'm lucky - otherwise it is going to be a good test of my new raincoat (the old one failed the test - I ended up drenched inside and out). However, whatever the elements throw at me I am determined to get round and will just treat each new challenge that I have to face on route as part of the adventure that I have embarked upon.

Am I ready to take on the challenge? Two weeks ago I wasn't sure, training had slowed up and I had sustained an injury (see previous update).  However, I now feel ready and I am keen to get started. I have marked my map up with the routes for each day and purchased plenty of campeed plasters and energy bars to help me along the way.

Last weekend I set out to complete a 19 mile walk in one day to prove to myself that I could do it but also as a final check of my fitness and stamina levels.  I had carefully selected a route which I knew would present me with varied terrain including hills, open fields and thick undergrowth.  My injured ankle held up throughout the walk so I feel much happier about that now.  The last few miles were quite hard going but I gritted my teeth and kept on going. I lost count of the number of stiles I had to climb over. These varied from nice new ones to old rickety ones which wobbled dangerously as I tried to clamber over them without falling off.

I encountered many cows along the way but each time gave them a wide berth and paased through their fields with no problems, that is until I reached a field about 3 miles from the end of my walk.......

I had just found another geocache and was happily heading towards the next one when I came across a hed of young cows. I deployed my normal tactic and started to move further into the field away from them with the intention of walking in a large half circle so that I could reach the stile on the opposite side. They were all intently watching me - not unusual because they are inquisitive animals so I carried on. They started to walk towards me - again not unusual, this often happens. However, they then strated to run towards me ! OK, so now panic set in, a quick glance round identified the stile I had just come over as being the nearest point of safety, so I turned on my heels and headed rapidly in that direction - not running, just a very brisk walk (not easy with tired legs). They caught up with me just as I scrambled back over the stile. They then all stood there snorting at me. There was no way I was going to attempt to get through the field now so headed back the way I came until I got back to a road which ran in the same direction as I was trying to go and this eventually brought me back on route.

So, I am hoping for reasonable weather, not too many stiles and no more encounters with stampeeding cows.

Many thanks again to all of you who have shown your support both in donations and good wishes - I will update you all regarding hopw it all went after the weekend!!

(Updated 27/05/2010)

Training

Training has been a bit hit and miss since my last update. With a few family commitments to try to work around.

On the weekend of the 15th/16th May I was looking after my 4 year old grandson so I couldn't get out walking very far at all. However, he did keep me on my toes in many other ways and come the time to hand him back to my daughter on the Monday I was absolutely exhausted. It was a good test of my back and core muscles whilst carrying him up and down the stairs. He tested my patience levels - meals were quite a slow process and just how many times do you say no before you tie them them up so that they can't get into things they shouldn't be! My interpretation skills were also tested to the full as his speach is still quite indistinct (he was a very premature baby and as a result is still trying to catch up with other children of his age) - this will come in handy if I have to get directions from any 'ampshire farmers.

My husband, Jim, is also working away in Scotland at the moment. This makes it easier for me to get out to do some walking in the evenings as I am not tied to getting home and making tea, but it has meant that I need to spend time with him at the weekends which again has restricted the time I can get out walking.

I am now also sporting an injury which has yet again restricted my training. I was passing through a heavy security/fire door at the entrance to a block of flats last week when the person ahead of me stopped. unfortunately the door swung back and caught the back of my right ankle taking out quite a nice chunk of my flesh. Although this has scabbed over quite nicely it is quite painful from the pressure when wearing my walking boots - but I have another week and a half for this to heal up so should be ok by the walk.

Hitting 'The Wall'

You may have heard tales of marathon runners hitting 'The Wall' at some point during their race. I discovered last Saturday that this can also happen to walkers. I was out completing a circular walk near Andover - lovely scenary, beutiful countryside and following the route of the River test. It was the hottest day of the year so far therefore I had packed extra fluids to drink along the way.

Eight miles into my walk my legs suddenly felt like lead and all my energy seemed to desert me. I couldn't understand it - I was heading downhill so it should have felt easier! I could see shade further down the path I was on so dragged myself towards it in the hopes that once I could get out of the sun I would feel better. As soon as I was in the shade I stopped, drank more of my sports drink and ate a bakewell slice (only sugary item i had left in my bag). I sat there for a good 15 minutes waiting for  the glucose fom the drink to kick in - but it didn't. I decided I couldn't stay there and had to keep going so that I could get nearer to somewhere I could get help if I needed to. I forced myself through the next mile stopping every few minutes to have more fluids and trying to keep in the shade as much as possible.

At this point I came onto a path where I could see other people walking towards me, this made me feel a bit better, at least I din't feel so alone out here now. I reached another geocache and had to wait for them to walk past before I could go and find it and sign the log book. I took the opportunity to consume another half a bottle of drink and to eat some more food. I was now only 1.5 miles from the car and this helped to spur me on. The route was now also through a nice cool glade of trees so this made the going much easier too. After another half a mile the fluids and food finally kicked in and so I was able to enjoy the last mile of my walk again and once back at the car I felt like I could easily carry on and do a few more miles but it was time to head home.

The thing that shocked me most about this was that I have completed some much longer and harder walks this year with no problems. The only explanation I can think of as to why it happened is that I had just been through quite a hectic week. My daughter's cat had given birth to kittens - 2 normally, another 3 by c-section. We had been having to hand feed the kittens which had led to some rather late nights. I believe this all finally caught up with me whislt out on my walk, hence the exhaustion. So latest lesson learnt - make sure that I get plenty of sleep in the week running up to my walk and make sure I have enough glucose supplements in my bag should I need them.

(Updated 06/05/2010)

Training:-

I have been continuing my training at weekends and this week have stepped that up to include a couple of evenings during the week too. My averages now are 9.8 miles and 15.3 geocaches a day. The distance I have been able to walk the last couple of weekends has been somewhat disrupted by the addition of a new kitten to our family who we were reluctant to leave for long periods on his own whilst he was still settling in. Therefore I concentrated my efforts on tackling some harder terrain and trying to increase my speed to help build up my leg muscles a bit more.

My geocaching name:-

In order to set up an account on the geocaching website, you need to select a caching name to go by. My daughter and I had still not chosen one when we set out to do our first official cache together (we had been introduced to caching a few weeks before by my sister but had not yet set up an account to log our finds). As we walked through the New Forest we felt a bit like girl guides out exploring so started singing some tunes as we went. One of these songs was the tune that the Oompa Loompa's sing in Charlie and the Chocolate factory (Oompa Loompa doom-pa-dee-do
I have a perfect puzzle for you, Oompa Loompa doom-pa-dee-dee, If you are wise, you'll listen to me .......)

My daughter decided that would make a great name for us so when we registered our account that evening we became the 'Oompah Loompahs'. My daughter has since got bored with geocaching so there is now only one Oompah Loompah and I am now also known as Mama Loompah to my geocaching friends.

Another funny geocaching tale:-

I went out to do an evening walk (and to find a few more caches) along the Warsash coastal path (Solent Way) on 5th May. It was a very pleasant evening, not too cold. There was a cruise ship sailing down Southampton water along with a number of container ships, ferries, yachts and a group of canoeists. In fact it was much busier on the water than it was along my path - I only saw 4 other people out walking.

As I was approaching a spot where I knew a geocache was hidden (because my GPS unit was telling me so), there was a lady walking a dog heading towards me. When out geocaching you use stealth when finding the cache - the idea is not to be seen by 'Muggles' (anybody who is not a geocacher). Therefore, I stopped to watch the passing boats as I waited for her to walk by. I could see from where I stood the likely hiding place of the cache (some are more obvious than others) so was happy to stand there and wait patiently. However, as I watched, her collie dog stopped and started to sniff around the spot the cache was hidden then next thing I knew he had started to run down the beach with what looked like the cache (a white container) in his mouth. I looked on horrified - what was he going to do with it? Was he going to try to chew it up? Take it into the sea (he had been running in and out of the water as they approached)? Drop it nearby or carry it for the rest of his walk?

I decided there was only one thing for it (other than to go running down the beach after him) and that was to approach the woman and tell her her dog had something that I was looking for. As time was of the essence (before he took it into the water or chewed on it) I quickly blurted out to her that her dog had something in his mouth that i was looking for. Although she looked at me with confusion she did call her dog (Ben) and whilst we waitied for him to walk slowly back up the beach (still carrying the cache) I was able to explain to her a bit more about what I meant. Ben handed over the cache with no problems and I showed the lady (Liz) the contents and told her a bit more about geocaching. Liz said that Ben often picked up bits of rubbish old pots cans etc whilst they are out on their walks and she said she would try to make sure that he didn't run off with any more of these hidden containers (caches often go missing or are 'muggled' as we call it in the geocaching community). Anyway, I signed the log, replaced the cache in its hiding place, said goodbye to Liz and Ben and continued on my walk happy that I had another find to log.  

(Updated 21/4/2010):-

Over the last couple of months I have been getting out walking at the weekends. I have been aiming to walk anything from 5 to 15 miles a day and locating geocaches along the route. As at 21st April I have walked a total of 155 miles and  found 206 geocaches. This has been over 16 days, so on average, 9.7 miles and 12.8 geocaches a day. This is still far short of the average 16.7 miles and 60 geocaches per day I will need to do to complete this challenge so I will be keeping the training going over the coming weeks.

Training Conditions

I have completed the majority of my training so far in the glorious Hampshire countryside. It is amazing just how many pretty villages, woodland, farmland and glorious hill top views we miss as we charge from A to B along the road network. I have discovered so many places that although I had seen on the map, I had never visited before and most of these are just 2 or 3 minutes from a major road.

The weather conditions have ranged from rain (including a thunderstorm), sleet and snow (got some good practice early in the year walking to work in the snow), fog (which ruins the views) and the glorious sunshine of the last couple of weekends.

The terrain has been a mixture of flat walks, gentle slopes and steep hills and I have found myself walking on tarmac, gravel paths, woodland paths, heathland, shingle, grass and some lovely mud.

Funniest moment so far:-

After a particularly wet week, I set out on a walk near Exton. The ground was still quite saturated from all the rain and there were plenty of puddles to avoid (or on occasions no choice but to wade through). Many of the paths were extremely muddy and at times I feared losing a boot as my feet were sucked into the sludge. The going was pretty hard but I stayed focused, reminding myself that all this extra work would be helping to strengthen my leg muscles. 

Just over half way round my route I came across a particular wet and muddy lane. At first i thought this would be no different to those I had already walked upon but oh how wrong I was!  I soon discovered that this was a totally different blend of mud and water - it was as if someone had added soap powder to it as it was a particularly slippery type. I found myself slipping and sliding all over the place - my poor walking boots unable to get any grip at all. In fact I believe it was worse than the packed snow I was walking on back in January - at least that didn't move as you walked on it. 

After walking on this for a few meters I decided I had formulated a good plan, keeping well over to one side, using my walking pole to check for any deep bits. This worked well until I was about two thirds of the way down the lane when all of a sudden both of my feet shot out from under me and I landed with an almighty splat on my backside in the mud. I laughed so much I must have scared the poor wildlife! Where is the person with the camera/camcorder when you need them? Not only my fall, but also my ensuing struggle to get back to my feet would have made some excellent footage to put on YouTube or sent off to to You've been framed (I could have made some more money!). Luckily, due to the softness of the ground I landed on, I had no injuries  and so was able to continue on my walk. I'm also pleased to say that I didn't see anyone else until I had nearly finished my walk by which time the mud on my backside had dried and I had been able to brush the worst of it off.

Scariest Moment

This occured when I was walking across a field containing cows. When I entered the field they were all happily grazing away so I just strode on in a little world of my own, planning where I was going next and when I was going to stop for a bite to eat, when all of a sudden I realised that they had all suddenly surrounded me. Thats ok, I thought, i'll just keep going I'm sure they will move on. So on I walked and yes the cows ahead of me did part out of the way but only to reveal a huge great bull stood staring at me in the centre of the path I was walking on. He snorted (it was probably only a sneeze really) and my heart started to beat faster as I wondered whether my poor weary legs were going to be able to take off at speed in the direction of the nearest point of safety (about 100ft away). Its at these sort of moments I wish I wasn't out walking alone!

Just as I thought I was going to have to make a run for it, he grunted and walked out of my way, taking his harem of cows with him - what a relief - but just for a moment there I had been petrified! 

Favourite View so Far

Has got to be from Old Winchester Hill looking south down the Meon valley and seeing the Solent and Isle of Wight in the distance. A view I would thoroughly recommend and a great place to have a picnic. You can drive your car to the top of the hill (where there is free parking) so you don't even have to walk up.

Please revisit soon for more updates!

I will be updating this page with my training progress and also a full report following the event itself so please come back and visit again soon.

Chris