DONE IT !!!!

After 33hours 25 minutes of walking we arrived in Bowness on Solway at 10.12pm last night (Sat 12th) with 141km (88miles) of Hadrian's Wall behind us. More info & photos to follow...

This is how it happened:

On Friday morning at 4.55 am the Trekkers posed for their photo at Walls end, all eager to get going - (mainly to see what was happening at Gateshead readymix plant). Weather was dry and cool - really perfect for the task ahead. Tim was moaning that his trainers were too tight and was just about to change his socks when he realised he was wearing Gordon's size 8 trainers - only two sizes too small! Not sure what else he was wearing of Gordon's but even at this early stage he was walking in a slightly odd way!

The support team met up with them 90 mins later under Tyne Bridge with breakfast which disappeared pretty quickly. The next two stops were reached ahead of schedule and by dinner time on the first day the support crew were slightly nervous about not being ready on time. Even after 21 miles feet were holding up well, spirits were high and target times were still being smashed.

The 1st stop after lunch saw the Trekkers dropping into St Oswalds tea room for tea and sympathy (well cake and biscuits actually). Weather was getting a bit warmer and some were feeling the rub! Socks changed and energy levels boosted they set off again led by Tim singing - either that or he had indigestion!

The dinner stop was a great success with the Trekkers enjoying fish and chips and the odd battered sausage! Feet were beginning to be a little sore by now and the Trekkers were looking forward to the final leg of day one being over. As the terrain was more difficult Tim had allowed a drop in speed to 2.5 miles per hour. The boys had other ideas however and romped home 45 minutes early to a very welcome pint.

Spirits were high at the end of the first day, the foot care strategy seemed to be paying off and considering 73 kilometers had been walked everyone was in relatively good shape. Moods were boosted further when an admiring group of people in the pub made an unsolicited donation to the cause having heard what the Trekkers were up to.

Then it was off to the Youth Hostel where Gordon at least (being the only youth among them) got a good nights sleep...

The next morning the Trekkers set off, ably assisted by Peter on another hard stretch of terrain. Undaunted they appeared for bacon and egg butties right on time and seemed to be making light work of the distance.

The 2nd stop of the day was at a location where parts of the wall still survive. The support team set up cake and hot drinks on the wall itself happy in the knowledge that Hadrian would definately approve of this use of his wall. The views were stunning and the Trekkers still very chirpy and positive. Having changed their socks and in some cases their trousers they sped off into the distance.

The support crew set up at the next stop for lunch and suprised the Trekkers with pizza and potato wedges. Some of Tim's family stopped by to make sure we weren't finishing him off and the locals came out to see what was going on! With 61 miles done and dusted the Trekkers were anxious to get it over and done with and so set off to Carlisle with Belinda and Richard for company.

The support crew set up the next stop in a park in Carlisle and Keith and Helen went to look for the Trekkers, leaving Pete to mind the kit. By now it was rather hot and Keith had the lovely idea of meeting the Trekkers with ice lollies. This seemed to go down really well with the Trekkers, who for the first time looked like they were suffering. Upon arriving at the stop they discovered that Pete had fought off a dog whilst waiting for them to arrive. This struck them as pretty funny and along with the consumption of assorted cakes, biscuits and tasty morsals helped give morale a much needed boost!

At the penultimate stop the Trekkers had lost all interest in food and were looking a bit ragged around the edges. Feet were tended to and they staggered off to complete the last section of the journey.

The support crew made their way to the end a little subdued and settled down to wait. Amazingly the Trekkers appeared in the village of Bowness on Solway at 10.12 meaning that they had kept up the pace despite being on the go for 17 hours. Champagne all round and a very happy and excited group made their way to the cars for the drive home.

Thanks for visiting our Justgiving page, for some of you this will be for the third year & we appreciate your continued support when there are so many people doing similar challenges for so many worthy causes.

Late last year the four of us sat down to decide what we should do for 2010 & more importantly what charity we would like to support. After ruling out Dave's idea of canoeing around the Isle of Wight (it would have cost the RNLI more money than we could ever raise!!), we decided to attempt to walk the length of Hadrian's Wall from Wallsend(Newcastle) to Bowness on Solway(Cumbria) a distance of 84miles(135km) or the equivalent of over 3 marathons. Usually this is undertaken in 5 to 7 days, we are aiming to begin at 5.00am on Friday June 11th finishing before sunset on the Saturday evening, we are aiming for a walking time of 34 hours with a 6 hour rest at a Youth Hostel at the 43 mile mark.

The next question was what charity, the the past 2 years we have raised nearly £10,000 on behalf of 2 large high profile charities, this time we wanted to help a small charity where we can make the maximum difference & to feel a real affinity for the project. We canvessed opinions of a number of our previous sponsors & one of them, Helen Frape, suggested CIFA UK. The CIFA Trust is a small but highly effective UK charity supporting the work of CIFA Kenya and CIFA Ethiopia to facilitate the promotion of healthy, peaceful and self reliant communities. After speaking to Anthony Hovey, the chairman & a trustee, it is obvious that this is a small committed, pragmatic charity that makes a real difference to children's lives in the border region of Kenya & Ethiopia.

The trust with the aid of the local people can build a complete primary school that can accomodate upto 150 pupils for only £8,000, the building is simple however very practical with hygenic welfare facilities & also used for adult education classes in the evenings. The trust liases with the regional authorities to ensure funding for teachers & teaching materials is in place before building work commences.

Please help us, for as little as £50 per child we can fund a school that may change the lives of many children in one of Africa's most difficult regions.

 

      Many thanks, Tim,Jeremy,Dave & Gordon

 

Updates:

May 20th

Monday & Tuesday of this week saw our final "official" practice walk , 54 miles along the Limestone Way in North Derbyshire to Rocester in Staffordshire via a detour into Matlock for an "alleged" 6 hour sleep!! All four of us took part with Mike Bull & Pete Smith providing support, the weather was good if perhaps a little too warm and on Day 1 we made the classic mistake of setting off too quickly over quite difficult terrain. By the time we reached Matlock we had covered the 30 miles in just over ten hours & the thought of a further 12 miles, that we will need to do on the "real" walk on Day 1" filled us with dread. Legs ached, feet ached & Jeremy had some blistered toes that were causing problems, we enjoyed the fish n chips at 10.00pm in Matlock Bath as we finished & by 11.00pm we were all tucked up ready to start again at 5.00am the next morning. We the exception of Gordon, none of us slept very much although the bath & the rest did help to prepare us for the early start.

Day 2 saw a further 24 miles walked at a more sedate pace despite the terrain being slightly easier, on the "real thing" we really do need to pace Day 1 much better otherwise we'll have serious problems Day 2. As ever we learnt a number of lessons & we now have 3 weeks to get our heads around the task & understand at what pace we need to walk each section & when & what to eat & drink to keep us fuelled. It's going to be bloody tough!!

April 24th

Yesterday saw 1st practice walk, only 3 of us took part as Jeremy stranded in Egypt, decided to reduce from intended 34 miles to 27 miles. Walked the toughest section of the Wall with the last 5 miles being the "sting in the tail" with continuous steep short climbs & descents. The 27 miles took just over nine & a half hours, in 9 weeks time another 57 miles will need to be walked, that's a totally different proposition.

April 6th

1st official "practice" walk planned for April 23rd, a 34 miler fron Heddon on the Wall to Greenhead to test the terrain.

May 10th/11th 55 miler on Limestone Way in Derbyshire, includes overnight stop to see if a 6 hour break really is a good idea!!

We should have news in the next few days of where the school will exactly be & who's in our support team.