We did it!

Sorry to take so long in posting about the walk, but we did complete it, just over 2 weeks ago. In the end it was Esther, Claire, Diana and myself as Grant tore his ACL playing football (this juet reenforcec that I do not ever want to play! Injury bad!)

So we set off from the office at 12:30 Friday afternoon, and Richard was using the tom-tom to drive up to Fort William (maps, people, maps) we hit traffic because even though the reports said avoid certain roads, the tom tom took us there and we had to do whatever the tom tom said..... yeah, we got a little antsy in the back after 3 hours.

But we made it! Got checked into the hotel and then went over to the Ben Nevis Centre to register and get the final safety briefing.

I will get to the first day of walking later. Here are some pictures on the way up and the night before..... :)

The BIG weekend!

WEll, we did it. We walked our last big training distance. Not all of us, but more than 50%, so I consider that a success. This past weekend we did a combined distance of 37 miles over 2 days. There were blisters, bikers, sunburns, and the testing of the walking poles (they are a good investment, probably more useful on a hill rather than the flat path, but hey, they did help. No one was injured either).

Sunday we set off early on the train to Linlithgow. I misread the map and thought the walk was 32 miles, but we actually walked 24. Turned out to be a good thing, as you will find out. Everyone wore a pack with water and food, and we all had our walking gear with us to test. Grant won for heaviest bag! It was huge!

Here is us on our walk. It was sunny the whole time! I got a burn on my legs! This on top of the sunburn from Thursday when I cycled from Edinburgh the Berwick with our former colleague David. Her's a picture of David and the MASSIVE hill we climbed on the bikes. Side story. I made it to the end of the cycle and then within sight of his house my tire got a thorn in it and when I het the curb to cross I fell and got a large bruise on my leg that is pretty gross looking. After a shower I felt fine, just totally knackered. I was beaten by the ride.

Back to the walk. By 2 we had made it 13 miles, but grant's feet were not doing well. The combination of his huge bag, his new shoes, and the lack of walking socks (!!!!school boy error!) meant he was blistering. Even diana's applications of second skin could not stop them. He had blisters on blisters! At teh end, we decided that he could opt out of teh second walk from Leith the Crammond and the west end (the same loop we walked at the beginning of may) if his feet were too beat up. And Esther, who walked ahead of the group with me and then kept going had to work on the monday at her other job, also did not come on the monday. So it was the 2 Americans and the Aussie at 9:45 who set off from Ocean terminal, breakfast bars and sore legs for everyone! At least it was not too windy, and only rained for abit. Claire wanted it to rain so she could try out her new waterproofs :) Silly. We made it to the halfway point and there were ponies! This was the only time I whipped out the camera, just wanted to finish! We made the west end in 3 hours and 32 minutes, only a half hour slower than the last walk! Pretty good for a trio of tired people. I have confidence we can physically get through this walk. Now it's onto the fundraising. This week I'm seeing if a bar will let us host a quiz night, grant had an idea for a horse race night, and generally going around begging people for money! So if you are reading this, please click on the team links and donate! Any amount is appreciated! Onward to the highlands!

Training report May 3rd

We decided to go for our longest walk yet last weekend, almost 13 miles! Grant, Claire and myself (Elizabeth) met at Ocean terminal at about 1 and proceeeded along the coast to crammond, then along a cycle path back into the west end stopping at the office for a cup of tea. :) WE did an amazing job! finished in 3 hours and 6 minutes, plus we met up with Iain (one of our support team members half way and had a wee chat and water provided for us.

I had run in the Great Edinburgh Run earlier in the day (beat my time from last year, result!) So by the end of the walk I was knackered, but in a good way.

Our next task was to attend the information meeting on Wednesday at the Scottish Communities Office on Calton Road...Clair and I managed to make it there is 25 minutes with some serious power walking! My shins were still burning by the end of the hour meeting.

I'm glad we got training when we did, and accommodation will be fine, but our fundraising needs to get better! My goal this week is to put up a link on my social networking sites and get e-mailing all the clients I've worked with from CMA.... anyone have any ideas to raise £2500 pounds?

Back to work now, I'll update on the BIG WALK this weekend, we are doin 40 miles over 2 days, Sunday and Monday. Yikes!

Photo update! walk 05-04-09

A couple weekends ago Grant, Esther and I went for a walk in the pentlands in the afternoon. Diana was going earlier because she had other plans later in the day (the week's grand prix I believe) and Claire was visiting friends in Manchester (she took a bus, madness!)

We ran into the other American as we were heading up the trail. She heard me talking (odd, I so rarely speak ;)) and we checked that she was working hard!

Anyway, I've finally downloaded all my pictures from my phone. It was a gorgeous day and we made it to the top of the first hill only to look south at all the other hills. Hope fully the walk in June won't have such steep climbs. At least not all at once. :) It was a great walk nonetheless.

I was tired out after. In the morning I ran to Musselburgh and back to catch my friends Jill, James and Shan running the Edinburgh Half Marathon. Great job guys, you all looked good out there! I miss running half marathons, just missed the sign up this year and it was such a great morning for it.

Later on today I'm off to Aldi to get walking poles, a headlamp, waterproof trousers and kendalmint cakes. They are having a sale!


Later guys!

Team Report 1.1

We have less than 2 months to go till the challenge, and team training for the next month is now a priority! To date we have had 2 team training walks at the Pentlands (photos to follow, Diana, myself, and Esther have documented our training walks.) We have a couple people off on holiday but they have promised to walk as much as possible (Diana, this means you!) Then on 16-18th May we are going to do our long walk weekend, 40 miles over 2 days to try out our walking shoes and how we will feel after such a long time together. :S


Recent training activity for me (Elizabeth): This past weekend I was visiting a friend in the borders, we went for a 3 hour walk through the Kyloe Hills on Saturday followed by a 36 mile cycle to Holy Island on Sunday! I know it wasn't a walk but it was quite a workout nonetheless. In less than 2 weeks I'm running the Great Edinburgh Run 2009 which is approximately a tenth of the distance we are going to get through in the highlands.

We still need to sort out bits of kit for each person, a couple head torches, waterproof trousers, all the food and accommodation in Fort William for the Friday, and sponsorship! We have pledged to raise £2500 for Scottish Communities, and I know we can! So if you are reading this blog, please take a moment to go to the website link on the left and donate any amount to help us reach our goal.

Now to figure out how to get the images off my camera and onto the blog...