Wainwright fells – The Final 20!

Thank you for visiting my Fundraising page and (hopefully) agreeing to support my Fundraising goal.

There are two donate options on my page; one for Glow and one for the BHF which will take you to my dedicated FR pages for each cause so you can choose a cause or split an amount that you have in mind between the two if you would like to support both. Thankyou!!

For the past 9 years since the summer of 2014 I have been busy fell walking and gradually ticking off 194 out of the 214 Wainwright fells in the lake district. It all began (unbeknown to me at the time) with one of the most challenging Wainwright fells – Helvellyn via Striding Edge. A scouting friend – Andrew Wood persuaded my husband Doug and I to join him and his partner Jane on what we hoped would be the first of many adventures. So, on a warm, sunny day in July we took on out first adventure and successfully completed not one but four fells that day – Birkhouse Moor, Helvelyn, Nethermost Pike and Dollywagon Pike. It was a challenge, nerve racking and tiring but I loved every minute and never looked back!

Andrew passed away unexpectedly just a few weeks after our trek from a heart attack. The fells became a place of solace – somewhere to reflect, find some headspace and enjoy the wonderful outdoors. Doug and I began to walk more of the fells accompanied by friends and family at different points – Jane. Amy, Matt, Em, Karen and Chris, and before we knew it we had completed 20, then 30, then 100 – we kept going and soon reached the 194 of today. The pandemic stalled us somewhat but we now find ourselves with just the final 20 to go. Doug and I often think of Andrew when walking the fells and I still have a shoelace safe in my rucksack that he gave me when climbing our first fell – mine had broken and prepared as ever Andrew had a spare set of laces on him, one lace replaced my broken one and the other went safely in my bag and has been there ever since. Andrew would be very supportive and proud if he were here, so I’d like to support the British Heart Foundation in his memory and what better way to do that than by raising funds as I tackle the final 20 fells with Doug.

Another passion of mine is the charity that I work for – providing much needed support within the field of domestic abuse and homelessness.

Glow is the catalyst for change in the community and the domestic abuse area. We work to systematically impact the way our region and the sector addresses abusive relationships. Everything we do is driven by a deep desire to change the future of relationships for the better.

To end domestic abuse, we support and address the needs of those affected by domestic abuse; we empower survivors to overcome their past toward more confident futures; and we work to end domestic abuse at the source by educating the community and working with those responsible for abuse to end and change the cycle of their behaviours. I have seen first-hand, the amazing work that Glow do, in particular the work they do to educate children and young people about healthy relationships and in doing so gradually prevent unhealthy relationships and domestic abuse from happening in the first place. Victims of domestic abuse and their children face their own personal fears and challenges everyday so the least I can do is raise funds to support Glow’s work.

So, I hope I have convinced you to donate to my two worthwhile causes. If not the following key facts and a few of my favourite photo's of the Wainwright fell may convince you to help with my chosen causes.

Did you know that the total ascent of all 214 fells is 36,000 metres, that’s 4x Everest from sea level to the summit and that the record for the shortest time in which to complete all 214 fells is held by Paul Tierney, a ultra runner who completed all from Keswick start to finish in 6 days, 6 hours and 5 minutes. It puts my almost 9 years to shame!