Hello

As many of you already know, I'm off to walk the Appalachian Trail in March. It's a 2,180 mile walk from the Chattahoochee National Forest outside Gainesville, FL to the Baxter State Park in Maine, across terrain ranging from gentle woodland paths to near-vertical rock faces, and it's going to take 5 months to finish. 

The Trail was first laid out in the 1920s and stretches across 14 states. It covers many of the highest mountains of the Appalachian range and often passes within a few hours drive of some of America's major East Coast cities. But the Trail remains wild & primitive, passing through more than 60 parks and forests and avoids developed areas as much as possible, passing through around only a dozen small towns along the whole of it's length.

Feel free to read more about the Trail on Wikipedia, where you'll also find a cheery picture of a hungry black bear and a very scary looking map.

The trip is roughly equivalent to walking London to Glasgow 6 times, doing 19 laps of the M25, or strolling 8,700 times round any full size football pitch.

Phone signal will be very limited and last time I checked there aren't many internet cafes in the mountains so it's a bit of a case of no turning back.

I'd like to use the opportunity of doing this walk to hopefully raise some money for charity. Some of you may already be familiar with The Halo Trust, who are a non-political, non-religious charity who specialise in removing the hazardous debris of war, like landmines. Click here and scroll down to read some frankly astonishing stats on the work they have done in the last 23 years.

If you are able to donate any amount, no matter how small (or large!) please do using either your credit card or your PayPal account.

Thanks.. and see you in September!

Nick