Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I'm not sure if you know but the Air Ambulances that swoop in and deliver some poor soul to a medical professional receive no government or lottery funding, relying solely on the generosity of the public.  It takes an average of one hour for a seriously ill or injured person to get to a consultant. The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) can deliver that same consultant to a seriously or injured person in around 15 minutes. This can literally make the difference between life and death or losing a limb and saving it.  The GNAAS operates three helicopters based at Teesside, Cumbria and Northumberland.  For interest it costs approximately £1.2m per annum to operate ONE helicopter, this is only part of the cost of the service, so you can see how much money this vital service needs to operate.

In September I and three other masochists are walking the Lyke Wake Walk (LWW) in aid of the GNAAS.  The LWW is a 40 mile walk across the North York Moors from Osmotherley to Ravenscar which must be completed in a 24 hour period to have completed the challenge.  Most people who complete the walk do it between 12 and 18 hours although many who start do not finish.  The walk was created in 1955 as a test of endurance taking into account hill climbs, very boggy areas and exposure to the elements.  The name relates to the practice of carrying a coffin; Lyke - the corpse and Wake - meaning watching over a corpse. The name is given because there are many ancient burial mounds scattered around the moors which the route passes through. 

The walk would be a challenge to most fit people but for unfit 48 to 51 year olds who spend most of their time sitting; in front of computer screens, in cars and on aeroplanes it's pretty daunting. 

Andy and I have been in training now for 1 month, have permanent blisters and very achy legs having died twice walking the first ten miles three weeks ago and the second fifteen miles yesterday.  We were both told not to break in new boots on our first walk but did we listen?  Anyway our target is to walk the whole thing in stages first so we know what we are letting ourselves in for.  Please dig deep to give us some much needed motivation.

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Many thanks