Paul Stheeman
Paul,Charlie,Rob and Alex's Walk
Fundraising for Starlight UK
Story
The walk lasted exactly a fortnight, a fortnight in which Charlie Ramage-Johnson, Robert Beeching, Alex Edwards and myself walked unaided with pink hats on our heads (the hats were for charity, not out of choice!) from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, traversing through the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire Moors and the various sections in-between. It was extremely challenging, mainly due to our overly-ambitious decision to camp every night and carry all of our equipment (weighing nearly 20kg) on our backs. But somehow we made it, although not in 12 days (as hoped for in the original target) but in 14, which is still impressive given the fact that it looked liked 16 days was the expected target halfway through. It was an incredible journey fraught with difficulty and complication, proving to be much more of an adventure than expected, with an infuriating amount of things that went wrong for us. However we did manage to complete it, without cheating by letting someone take our packs for us or staying in a youth hostel instead of camping.
It was a gruelling two week challenge, in which we all struggled at various times, but through some attempt at teamwork we helped each other and convinced each other not to cheat or give up. Had it not been a sponsored walk, we would all have demanded a ride back home by day 6, but as we were not willing to disappoint our sponsors, we stuck at it and have so far raised over £7000 for Starlight Children’s Foundation. Thank you for contributing and making this such an incredible and worthwhile achievement. We are incredibly grateful for all your generosity, which together really has made a difference to children whose lives have been tragically shortened or face this possibility. We can confidently say your support has improved the quality of their lives and the lives of their families. Thank you
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We are going to do a 190 mile walk across England from the 19th of June to the 1st July this summer. It is called the Wainwright Coast to Coast walk.
The walk begins at St. Bees in Whitehaven and will finish at Robin Hood's Bay in Whitby. The walk has a set route but is not a trail. We will have to navigate ourselves and the walk will take us approximately 12 days to complete. With the terrain ranging from mountains in the Lake District and Yorkshire dales to the flats of the North Yorkshire Moors, we will cover anywhere between 8 miles in a day to 28. We have chosen not to stay in any of the Bed and Breakfasts along the way and so we will be camping in the fields along the route. We will of course be carrying all of our supplies and so the mountainous regions will be very demanding with such a load on our backs.
We would like to do all of this for the charity Starlight. It’s a charity dedicated to giving terminally ill children any wish in the world. They have never yet said no. The wishes range from anything between meeting John Terry to going to Disney Land. The wishes always involve the entire family, creating fond memories for them all.
We really hope to be able to raise enough money to make some of these children’s wishes come true, so any donations will be very greatly appreciated.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 'the world's greatest living explorer' (Guinness Book of Records) and an old Etonian, has sent the following message of support:
"Good luck Robert and friends on your first major endurance walk. Make sure you do a real live trial run together beforehand to test out all your gear and to make sure you work together as a team"
Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Starlight Children's Foundation gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.