In training: Another long walk

As part of our training for the London to Brighton 100K Trek, we have been stepping up the distance walks in preparation for the endurance challenge facing us next month.

It's all in aid of the British Heart Foundation - and this blog is about the walk, the training and the fundraising.

Walking the North Downs Way

The North Downs Way national trail has featured in a few of our training walks already and we previously reached as far as Guildford in the westerly direction. The final length of the trail is about 10 miles farther west to Farnham. This means we've done all of the North Downs Way between Guildford and Hollingbourne, with the Guildford-Farnham part still to finish in the west, and from Hollingbourne-Dover still to cover in the south east.

24 May 2015

We jumped on a train from London Waterloo to Guildford where we followed the River along the route which will be part of the actual London to Brighton Trek on the 27th June. Where this meets the North Downs Way we turned off the river path and headed in the direction of Farnham.

The first 12 miles to Farnham took us through bluebell woods (pictured above) and sandy lanes. At Farnham station we switched from the North Downs Way to a combination of local walks heading for MOD land, eventually ending in Fleet, another 14 miles further.

Danger signs and suspicious objects on MOD land near Aldershot and Farnborough.

When we got to Fleet Pond nature reserve we realised a train from Fleet back to London Waterloo was due in the next 5 minutes so we finished our 26 mile walk with a light jog, followed by a more serious run when we spotted the train was on the other platform and we needed to run over the footbridge to get to it!

Today's walk has almost very nearly coincided with part of the route we walked on our first charity walk adventure from London to Devon, where we followed the Three Castles Path for 3 of the days. We are planning a future walk to join up the end of this walk from Fleet, heading to Winchfield and the Basingstoke canal. But that's for another time!

Here are a few more photos from this walk:

Training begins for 2015 challenge

Hello blog readers!

A couple of weeks ago we got back out walking again and began our training for this year's charity walk challenge. 

We've gradually been doing day-long sections of the North Downs Way in Kent and Surrey. 

This time the section was an 18 mile walk in the snow, wind and rain from Betchworth to Guildford, another section of the North Downs Way.  Soon we will have connected up from Strood in the East with Farnham (and beyond, to join the route of our 2013 London to Devon walk).

Betchworth to Guildford - Track map and stats | Click to see it on a map.

It's all in preparation for a big challenge of a walk later in the year. More about that soon!

Here are some photos from the walk:

Snow topped trees on the North Downs Way

Boots!

Approaching Guildford

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

Training on the North Downs Way

With only a few weeks to go before the start of our Totnes to Land's End walk, we stepped up the training regime.

We caught the train to Otford in Kent, where the North Downs Way passes the station. We followed the trail east towards Rochester (19 miles). If you want to view / download the route you can get it here: North Downs Way Otford Walk Route

It was a mild day, but felt hot at times - especially after climbing a big hill. Apparently the high pressure system has trapped air pollution from Europe and dust blown over from the Sahara over Kent and south east England. There was a murky haze of blue-grey throughout the day but we didn't notice any abnormally bad air. On the radio in the morning the news had warned of "stinging eyes" and "difficulty breathing", and maybe as a result of this there were very few people out and about on the trail or in the villages along the way.

After 19 miles of the Downs (mainly Ups) there aren't any aches or pains to report. This is encouraging for our big Totnes to Land's End walk starting on the 18 April.

We've launched the sponsorship page at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/walklandsend

The map at the top of this post is the training walk route on the North Downs Way.  If you would like to view the route for our walk to Land's End please see the Route Plan page.