Day 5: Moor to Sea

We started today's leg of the walk in Bodmin, and swiftly picked up the Camel Trail, which is another former-railway-line-turned-walk-and-cycle-path. It seems like there are quite a few of these trailways in Cornwall; many railway lines must have been removed.

The next part of the walk followed country lanes through villages and farms. The weather provided us with April Showers (acceptable because it is April and this is what we took on), although a couple of times the showers were more like April Deluges, getting us thoroughly soaked.

We took refuge from one of the heavier downpours under a church gateway porch in small town called St Columb Major. In this unlikely spot we got talking to a local lady also taking shelter from the rain. It's so interesting to get small snippets of the lives of the people we are meeting along the way.

By the time the sea came into view as we approached Newquay, the sun had pushed its way through the clouds and we realised we had kept walking for 20 miles without really sitting down.

We are over half way on the walk, with four more days to go.

To see how we're getting on during the walk, see the 'Track Our Progress' page which shows a live map - http://2walkto.blogspot.co.uk/p/track-live-progress.html

Here are some pictures from today's walk:

Day 1: Totnes to Dartmeet

Wow, what a day! There were some fairly almighty ascents to contend with. There's nothing like jumping in at the deep end.

It's all for two fantastic causes, Macmillan Cancer Support and RMH Bristol.

Take a look at the sponsorship page and if you are able to donate to the charities we're supporting with this walk please consider sponsoring the walk. There are plenty more days and a lot of hills still to climb!.

http://VirginMoneyGiving.com/walklandsend/

Here are some photos from the first day of the walk...

It's nearly time...

Tomorrow is the kick off. Day one. The walk begins!

Looking at the map for tomorrow it is fairly steadily all uphill for much of the day. We are going to be following the River Dart, from Totnes town up to Buckfastleigh, then on Dartmoor to Dartmeet.

Dartmeet is so named because it is where the East Dart and West Dart tributaries meet and become the (single) Dart.  So that's all very exciting.

We are currently somewhere on the A303 driving to Devon. Got that "did I remember to pack my walking boots" kind of feeling, like something crucial has been forgotten.
Driving out of London after work was a fairly torturous experience, with the mass exodus for the bank holiday weekend creating gridlock. It was because of being stuck in a traffic jam that was the reason and inspiration behind wanting to do the walk in the first place. That fateful comment "it would be quicker to walk" which is a horrible cliche, but was just crying out to be acted upon.

It definitely won't be quicker to walk this particular 150 miles to Land's End, but on the other hand it definitely would not be possible to drive this beast of a trek we've got planned. We'll be off-road for as much of the time as it is feasible, which is why the route plan looks a bit wibbly-wobbly in places.

To see where we're going, check out the Route Plan page here: http://2walkto.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html

The "Track Our Progress" map ( http://2walkto.blogspot.co.uk/p/track-live-progress.html) should update with our latest positions sent by GPS to an app called Viewranger, which in turn gets interpreted by a website called Social Hiking. The Social Hiking map will also grab any social media posts or photos we take and attach them to the nearest position on the map.

Well that's all the pre-walk things to say. Thanks again for following the walk and for sponsoring!

To end this post, here's a photo of Lua the cat helping me pack my bag earlier today by conveniently falling asleep amid the gear, on top of my clothes.

More hills and training

Only one week to go before the walk from Totnes to Land's End begins.  The sponsorship page is now open at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/walklandsend

Training Walk on the North Downs

We have been out in the Surrey countryside exploring another part of the North Downs Way. This time we caught the train from London out to Oxted, just outside the M25.

Here is a map of the route (click on the map to zoom in and view the distance, height, average speed etc if you are into that kind of thing!)

This part of the North Downs Way seems to hug the M25 for quite a long way. The countryside around here is absolutely beautiful (ignoring the 8 lanes of roaring traffic where possible!).

We had to cross the motorway a couple of times during the day, and we were never far from it.

Despite the proximity to the M25, at times it was possible to forget it was there. Combined with a beautiful Spring day we were treated to some great views of Surrey.

Here are a few more photos from the walk:

And no walk would be complete without seeing a quirky road name. We stumbled upon...

Don't forget to follow us next week when we begin the walk from Totnes to Land's End, and if you can sponsor us that would be brilliant.

The sponsorship page is open at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/walklandsend

2 Walk To Land's End badges

Sponsor our walk and you'll receive one of these unique, handmade, limited edition... BADGES!

Masses of thanks to Karen and Rupert for making and sending the badges.

Sponsorship page and social networks

We've set up a Virgin Money Giving page to collect sponsorship donations for the charities.  It's at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/WalkLandsEnd

Click on the website images to open in a new tab/window:

Sponsorship Page:

If you use Facebook and Twitter we're on both under the username 2WalkTo. We'll post updates from the walk, photos, and progress on here as well...

Facebook:

Twitter: 

Front Page News

Oooh, look, we made the front page of the Totnes Times with our little walking adventure.

Totnes Times 17 April 2013

* Donate to the charities via uk.virginmoneygiving.com/walktotnes

Sponsorship update

Hello from New Alresford in Hampshire. It's day 4 of our walk!

We wanted to say the biggest thank you to everyone that has sponsored us and for all the amazing messages. 

So far we've raised nearly £1000 for our 2 charities, with plenty more pledges for when we finish the walk.

The sponsorship page stays open for a couple of months after we finish the walk.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/walktotnes

We've got badges to give you...

Sponsorship update

The countdown to the walk is ticking! Just 2 weeks to go until we set off on this big adventure.

Sponsorship has been rolling in. The fundraising thermometer on the Virgin Money Giving sponsorship page is nearly at the half way mark.

It's great to see all the support for raising money for 2 really fantastic charities, and even though we set the fairly ambitious target of raising £1500 we think we'll get there.

A huge thank you to everyone that has sponsored us so far!

Keep in touch with our progress on our Facebook page and via Twitter

Totnes Walk Video

Share this video to show your support!

Why are we doing this?

The main response I get when I tell people I'm doing a 250-mile charity walk is "Why?!"

In context I think they mean why the 250 miles, rather than why the charity walk.

Here are some reasons why we're doing it....

Time

It's going to take 12 days to complete a journey that can be done in under 3 hours by train, or under 4 hours by car.  It's a journey we've both done many times by car and train (we both have family and friends in Totnes so we go there a few times a year).  We both wanted to take "time out" from the pace of London living and do a trip which forces us to slow right down to only the speed our bodies can naturally carry us.  The journey becomes the destination.

People

We have already met some amazing people through organising the walk.  We've had offers of accommodation and practical help (see our post on Ways You Can Help if you're able to get involved). Though much of the walk will be on our own, we're sure it will be punctuated by meeting other walkers and great people along the way - it's part of the adventure.

Places

This walk will give us a new appreciation of the places between London and Totnes. We usually zoom straight through and don't have much idea about what lies between.  When you walk you see and learn infinitely more.  We're going to get to see places we never would have otherwise been to.  Check out our Route Plan.

To tread lightly on the planet

Doing something like this walk is quite self-indulgent. But it'll be a reminder that perhaps we don't need an increasingly fuel-guzzling and unsustainable way of life, moving us around at faster speeds.  We've both got green tendancies and the walk will hopefully inspire us to take a more active role in working towards a more environmentally sustainable way of life, both individually and out in the wider community.

Challenge

Neither of us are experienced long-distance walkers.  Doing something outside of the comfort zone and as a test of endurance is a great challenge. Sometimes it's important to simply drop all the "baggage" of everyday life and step into a different world for a few days.  In our case it's 12 days of steady walking which in itself is a physical challenge, but we've also got to try not to get lost (which for us is probably the biggest challenge!).

Giving back

It's a bit of a cliche, but the ultimate reason for the walk is we wanted to "give something back".  We're raising money for 2 fantastic charities which have helped us and our families in the recent past.  It's only fair that when we have drawn upon their resources that we draw upon our's to repay them and to ensure that others can benefit from the things the charities provide.  Read more about our charities and why we're supporting them on the Charities page.


If you'd like to sponsor our walk please visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/walktotnes and donate what you can.

Ways you can help

Here are a few ways you can help us with some of the practical challenges of our walk

 

Accommodation along the route

Do you know someone who can give us a bed for the night on any of the stages of the walk? Or perhaps you can recommend a not-to-expensive hostel or hotel? Please see our route plan for dates and details.

Publicity

Do you know someone at a local newspaper or radio station? Or can you spare a few minutes to write (e.g. email, text or tweet) to a journalist or DJ? Please point press contacts to our blog's home page and in particular the For Press page.

Donations in-kind

Do you have a skill or a talent we can cross-promote or sell in exchange for sponsorship? For example, a musician who can donate proceeds from sales of a song? Or a great cook, knitter, or tradesperson who can auction something to the highest bidder? There are lots of creative ways you can help us raise money without it costing you anything - please get in touch!

Feeding and Watering

We're going to be burning serious calories on this walk so having good hearty meals along the way will be essential. Some sections of the walk don't have any shops or food places so we'll need to plan where we're going to be able to get stocked up and refuelled. Please see our route plan and if you can offer or suggest where to eat, please get in touch.

Picking up and dropping off

If we need to stay overnight at the nearest large town we'll need to get from the finishing point on the walk route to the accommodation (and back to the walk route again the next morning). Can you offer transport when we're in your area? This ties in with accommodation and food, so please see the route plan for the different stages of the walk.

Moral support and encouragement

It means a lot to know you're there! Keep the tweets and messages coming in and feel free to share photos and links and make comments on our blog, Facebook and Twitter (plus this really helps spread the word). We hope to see lots of you along the way and maybe you'll even join in walking a mile or two to keep our spirits up!

Sponsorship and training update

Snow Time!

The fluffy white stuff has slightly put the brakes on our intended walking schedule this weekend. But it could potentially snow in March so we're taking the opportunity to do a bit of "adverse weather" training.

Check out Alex's red wellies

We also made the most of the snow to do some un-subtle promotion (you can find the pic on Facebook and Twitter and share it)...

Thinking up all sorts of terrible snow-related puns, such as "there's SNOW time like now to sponsor us" as the caption for this picture...  Hmm, maybe the picture speaks for itself!

The sponsorship money has started coming in via our Virgin Money Giving page (http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/walktotnes) and we'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone that has already sponsored us. We'll soon be putting out some info and ideas about other ways you can help. We really appreciate anything you can donate - whether it's via sponsorhip, or helping publicise the walk, or practical help with the walk itself.

Setting up for a charity walk

This charity walk is really happening. Alex and I have come too far down the line to change our minds now.

- Training for this 250-mile epic trek has started.

- The charities have been notified and they have offered an amazing level of support - we didn't expect that!

- We know our route (more-or-less).

- Alex has bought special lycra walking shorts (so we know this is getting serious).

- And I have spent many hours creating accounts on websites and social networks in preparation for promoting the walk in the hope of raising lots of money.

Keep track of our progress and show your support by following our blog. If you're on Twitter - tweet at us (or rather, @ us). Facebook users please engage with our Facebook Page, and of course most importantly if you like what we're doing and want to support two brilliant charities, please SPONSOR US!