Picture the scene.... It's a Friday and a lovely summer's evening in July.  The second bottle of fizz is cooling in an ice bucket whilst Lorna & Claire are sipping (guzzling?) the remainder of the first bottle from their champagne glasses (far too classy to drink straight from the bottle, of course!). The conversation turns to the topic of "so, what have you done today to make you feel proud?" - well, it wasn't quite the lyrics of Heather Small, but we did start thinking about what we could do that would challenge us and perhaps help to make a difference to others.  Out came the phones, we connected to the world wide web (thank you Tim Berners-Lee) and we found...... The Cotswold Way Ultra Challenge.... oh dear!

So, that was it - a 100km walk over 2 days at the end of June 2019 - this would give us plenty of time to train, we'd get fit (there is always hope!) and we could perhaps raise a little money for some good causes in the process.  The big question was - should we aim for 50km on each day with a sleepover in between, or should we just go for it and walk the entire 100km (hills and all) in one continuous effort?  Well, we clearly don't like to make life too easy for ourselves, so we decided on the latter - a non-stop, continuous trek from Bath to Cheltenham.  Yes, we are completely mad!  Be warned, that fizzy stuff can make you believe you can do anything!!

Once we gave this idea even more (sober) consideration, we went ahead and registered (team name "because Uber was busy!") and we paid the full entry fee so that every penny of any money we raise can be donated to our two chosen charities.  These are:

Hounds for Heroes.  Hounds for Heroes provides specially trained assistance dogs to injured and disabled men and women of the UK Armed Forces and UK Civilian Emergency Services.  It is truly an amazing charity and, as dog owners ourselves, we know what a great companion a four legged friend can be.

The Enda Ryan Poppy Pods at Tile Barn Outdoor Centre in the New Forest is dedicated to the armed forces with the Pods being used by personnel and their families for free during holidays and weekends.  The Poppy Pods were the inspiration of a dear friend, Enda Ryan, who was passionate about providing opportunities for young people to thrive and develop in the outdoors.  Enda passed away in September 2018 - his untimely death at the age of 50 has inspired us to raise some funds to help with the ongoing maintenance of and improvements to the Pod Village as a contribution towards Enda's incredible legacy. #alwaysdowhatyouthinkyoumightregretnotdoing

Thank you for visiting our page.  We will update as regularly as possible to keep our supporters informed of our progress as we train for our challenge.

Best wishes,

Lorna & Claire