First of all we would like to thank you for taking the time for visiting our fundraising page. Please dig deep and sponsor us online.

Late last year, Al(team captain) asked a few friends if they would like to take part in the Trailwalker 2008, he had a few leaflets and told us about when he did it before. The thought of doing 100km in 30 hours sounded like a good challenge, especially as it is for such a good cause. Team Map Reading Error was created.

Once we had put our names down and said yes, Al then told us he wants to do it in under 20 hours(no backing down now) so that is our personal challenge. 100km in under 20 hours, hopefully we will be able to do it, but just finishing will be an achievement.

The team consists of the 4 taking part plus 2 people who are the support staff(one of who is a reserve should anybody get injured, or has to pull out for other reasons before the start, these people like the team are voluntary).

When you are considering how much to donate, please don't just think about the walk, we are arranging to have 2 major training weekends on the south downs(the first of which will be early march) also a lot of solo training, building endurance so we can keep going when our brains tell us not to.

08-09 March 2008

You will all be pleased to know that we all survived our first training weekend on the South Downs, which was surprising considering the weather conditions, we had visibility down to 40m, horizontal rain and wonds of upto about 30mph.

08 March 2008

We started our walk just south of Upper Beeding at a car park on the A283, we crossed the River Adur, then headed west aiming for the quaint little village of Washington (which was about 6 miles away) where we planned to have some food.

Although the hills seemed quite gentle, we  hit a hit point of 238m above sea level at Chanctonbury Hill, unfortunately due to the weather, the view was a little less than spectacular (well it was raining after all). We reached Washington then spent 15 minutes walking round to find somewhere that sold food, we found the village pub and had some hot food. At this point we all agreed to push on a little more to try and get a few more miles in before we would turn round and head back to the car.

Off we went up another hill, heading into the bracing wind (at least the rain had stopped) and we managed to walk approximately another 3.5 miles to the car park just past Sullington Hill, the time was now 3.30pm and we knew we had to get a move on to get back to the car before darkness fell.

Just for a change, it was raining, the wind got up, the cloud cover was very low and at times we had no visible markers to rely on, so we hoped the track we were taking was the South Downs Way. On a few occasions, we got blown sideways, so ended up walking, leaning at quite a steep angle into the wind.

We made it back to the car just as it was getting dark (quite handy as we only had 1 head torch), soaked and tired ( we would like to say sorry for the mud on the hotel bedroom carpet), both rooms looked like a chinese laundry, as we tried to try our kit out ready for the next day.

Please use the link below to see the route we took, when the map opens, on the left you should see a bit that says map settings, if you click on map type, you can change the view to the Google earth map.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/hike/united-kingdom/upper-beeding-near-brighton/353603349

09 March 2008

We started this walk just south of Saddlescombe. We headed East and our destination was a nice little hill called Blackcap. The weather was nice, a little sun and a breeze, but no dreaded rain.

After initially going down hill, is was straight into some climbing reaching a point of 210m above sea level on the first hill, we then had a little map reading error (we live up to our name anyway) and went in a little circle, said hello to some bulls and got back on track rather swiftly, we crossed the road, went past a golf course heading for Ditchling beacon, we made it to the beacon (which is 248m above sea level) slightly tired but still willing to push on.

After passing a few groups of people who were doing more of a leasurly stroll, we made it to Blackcap, had a rest and a chat to an old couple who said they had been meaning to walk the whole of the Downs for 20 years and wished us good luck for July.

We headed back to the car and due to the direction we were going, we could see the storm clouds getting closer and rain actually pouring in some parts. We stopped for a minute at Ditchling Beacon, but unfortunately the Ice Cream man didn't do hot drinks, so off we headed.

It was only when we got to New Barn farm, that the heavens opened and for about 15 minutes, we had to put up with the rain, but fortunately the sun came out and we managed to dry off a little before we got back to the car. We made it to the car, put our gear in and then the heavens opened again, at least we saw a beautiful rainbow.

Please use the link below to see the route we took, when the map opens, on the left you should see a bit that says map settings, if you click on map type, you can change the view to the Google earth map.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/hike/united-kingdom/car-park-near-saddlescombe-near-brighton/13522528

Keep an eye out as we are planning another training weekend for the 10-11th May, hopefully the weather will be better, but as the say, If it's not raining, it's not training!!!!


Just think, you are a special person, you have the ability to help improve somebody's life with just a little donation and help us reach our target goal of £1500, so please give generously and smile or even laugh(especially on the Trailwalker weekend, when you are tucked up in your bed and we are freezing on the hills ). As said above, the team thank you for taking the time to visit our site.

To get an idea of the task we have ahead of us, please copy and paste  the link below to go to the Trailwalker page:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/fundraise/trailwalker/index.html


Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor us: Oxfam Trailwalker will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So please sponsor us now!

Many thanks for your support.

Al, Ash, John and Mark
Team Map Reading Error