WE DID IT !!!!! ........... but it was a hell of a lot harder than we expected. We walked from dusk to dawn without stopping, up and down the mountains.

We had quite a bit of a shock when we arrived to find out that we were infact not doing an amateur style slightly steep but long mountain walk, but in fact we were going to be going up, down or round the highest mountains in the breccons, including Pen-Y-Fan, Corn Du, Fan-Y-Big, Cribbin, cefyn cul, Bwlch duwynt and Fran Frynych.

The weather was awful ! It was so foggy you couldnt see your hand in front of your face, so we had trouble finding the paths, and saw NO beautiful views. It was so windy we thought we were going to get blown of the mountains, and at times we couldnt hear each other or see each other at all.

We sadly eventually ended up in 2 seperate groups, but in total myself and amy climbed a total of 4230ft in just over 9 hours (without stopping even once for more than 5 minutes). The other girls went a slightly different route, and were out walking even longer us.

Myself and amy, even ended up hanging onto tufts of grass for dear life, on the edge of cliff over hanging a crevice, trying not to be blown off at one point !

The girls were all amazing, we all made it, and I am so proud to have done the challenge with all of them. Jude carried on bravely and with dogged determination, regardless of the fact that she had injured her knee. Becky was suffering with a bad back and hip, but also adament she would finish whatever happened. Weez was an inspiration to us all, determined and leading the way, even throwing herself of the optional highest pole on the Sunday. Amazing Amy overcame her own self doubt, and was my walking buddy from start to finish - couldnt have done it without her !

On the Sunday, myself, jude and louise climbed up MORE hills in order to throw ourselves of ridiculously high platforms. We zip wired, and walked accross a horribly high and narrow bridge, and generally spent a further couple of hours terrifying myself and jude, as we are both scared of heights. (Though it has to be noted that jude wasnt being such big a jessie as me on the highest platforms). As mentioned before, Louise topped us all by bravely climbing to a horrific height, for a final optional zip.

We are all beyond exhausted now, and it all seems like a horrible knightmare, but we think we all gave it everything we had, and worked for every penny. (I almost fell asleep, youve been framed style, in my dinner last night !)

Thanks so much for all your support, it got us up the mountains (and me off the blooming zip platforms). We are so chuffed, as with your generous donations we have raised enough to build 2 houses, instead of one, so that means changing the life of even more children.

We have added new pictures for you to see, and i will add more when i get them from becs&Lou.

Thanks again for all your support, it really will make a difference to the lives of many children.

Vicki, Jude, Amy, Lou and Becs XXXXX

 

THE CHALLANGE :-

Unbelievable or not, the five of us really have signed up for one of the biggest challenges we have even undertaken, in order to raise money to actually change the life of some of the poorest children in south east Asia.

We have all agreed, in just 6 weeks time, to complete a crazy weekend of pain and physical challenges, including :-

* A night hike/navigation challenge on the Friday night

* A mountain hike on the Saturday,

* Challenges on the Sunday, including a high wire, sky walk.

Why would we agree to something like that?  Because EVERY single penny we raise will help the very poorest children and families in . If we can help get just one family move out of the rubbish dumps (just £500 pays for a new house), or help feed and clothe, and support one child through school, then it will be worth every second of pain and fear that we feel over just one weekend in our lives.

You can be sure that we will have really worked hard for every penny you kindly sponsor us becuase :-

*   We only have 6 weeks now to get fit and train (and none of us are fit !)

*   We had a choice of 13, 20, or 26 miles, but chose the 26 mile marathon mountain walk, as we hoped the harder we worked, the more you would sponser us.

*  We could have opted for a local flat walk, but we have agreed to the challenge on the mountains at Brecon Beacons (yes where the marines train !)

*  Some of us are TERRIFIED of heights, but will still do the high wire sky walk, if it means we raise money

*  Did I mention that we only have 6 weeks to train ……….

We have all paid our own costs, towards accommodations etc, out of our own pockets, so you can be sure that all your money will be used to change a child’s life, so please give an extra few pounds more than you feel you have to becuase we are asking.

Thanks so much to those of you who do sponser us, we really really appreicate it, and it will encourage us to carry on, knowing how much money we have raised, whenever we are struggling.  

Vicki, Jude, Becky, Louise and Amy

XXX

Please take a moment to look through the photos here, or visit the charitys web site for more information and photos.

http://www.mercyinaction.org.uk/

NEED/WANT MORE INFO ????

If you need more reasons to dig deep, read on ...........

I know some people have been asking to know more about the charity we are doing this for, what the money could be used for and how this came about.

How it came about we are doing this challenge

For those of you who dont know, Jude manages the Mercy in Action shop in Olney, and asked us if we would do the challenge with her. We had seen for ourselves, the poverty the children were living in, and the change the money was making, from a film that was shown at one of her fund raising fashion shows. So with fool hearty diregard to the fact that none of us are actually fit, we agreed.

The Charity - Mercy in Action

http://www.mercyinaction.org.uk/

http://www.january2010team.blogspot.com/

The charity is set up to help the very poorest children and families in the phillipines and burma. However they are committed to not just feeding the starving, but helping them to support themselves in the future.

I have copied a few of the most poignant things from the MiA web site, that really made me think, and resolve to do this. I hope this may make you dig a little deeper, and give just a couple more pounds that you were planning :-

AB.BA families

Mercy in Action provides families for homeless children wanting to leave the streets behind. Kids are placed in loving families where they recieve a good education, love, care and support. Siblings are always able to stay together and it's great to see the children bond with their new foster brothers and sisters too. Each child has a father and mother figure in their life, monitoring and mentoring them. Our team of youth workers, social workers and foster parents also work closely with each individule child to help meet his or her needs. It's an exciting journey to see these vulnerable, hurting children get back on track and into a safe enviroment.

 

After seeing amazing success with these family units we are currently expanding by building a new community 'village' so we can place more kids into loving, secure families. The current area we are working on will consist of 4 two storey houses, a garden, a playground and a shared meeting place.

Tapul environmental schoolling program

50 of the poorest children at Tapul elementary school are on the program, which for £15 per month per child gives them a school uniform, shoes, pays exam and school fees. In Tapul, on top of this, each child is given 5 cooked meals per week. In return each child looks after 5 fruit trees (based in an area in Tapul which has been illegally logged and was at risk of land slide), the parents run a self governed co-operative and once the trees bare fruit the harvest will be shared between the parents, as well as new trees being planted.