How it all began...

This weekend I overheard a friend of Charlie's asking her how & why she decided to do this in the first place, which made me wonder how we did all convince ourselves this would be a great idea.

Looking back at that first email again, it occurs to me I may have inadvertantly played things down a bit!!

From: Helen Griffin
Sent: 05 December 2007 09:12
To: 'katie west'; 'laura buck'; 'Sarah robson'; 'charlottebills@yahoo.co.uk'; 'Anna.Morgan'; 'niamh.macleod'
Cc: 'Charlotte Clayson'
Subject: Oxfam Trailwalker Challenge - July 19th - 20th

Hi there ladies,

I'm getting in touch with a exciting proposition for you...

I found details of the Oxfam Trailwalker online last week and since then Charlie and I have decided to join up.

The part where you come in is that it is a challenge completed in teams of 4, so we're looking to recruit 2 more team mates to join us!

The walk is billed as 'Four people, one goal, 100 kilometres, 30 hours' and sounds like a really rewarding experience and a good laugh to do as a group of friends.

You basically complete a 100km walk together over the course of 30 hours on the weekend of 19th and 20th July, raising money for people living in poverty (money raised goes to Oxfam and the Gurkha Welfare Trust), and generally having a lot of fun along the way.

The route runs along the South Downs Way, finishing in Brighton and is a test of teamwork, fitness, stamina, endurance, and navigational skills (Charlie reckons she's got the last one covered).

Plus, if you're not so keen on the physical challenge aspect of the walk there's still a way to be involved - each team needs a support crew to help with moral support, emergency chocolate and drink supplies on the day, so if you're interested in getting involved but don't fancy the training we'll need to do in the couple of months beforehand then we'd love your help too!

Here's the link for more info...
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/fundraise/trailwalker/index.html

Let me know what you think...

Helen x

With just 25 days to go, the countdown to the mighty Oxfam Trailwalker challenge has well & truly begun...

That's how the title of this page appeared at the beginning of last week...but scarily enough, time is running out fast and what was 25 days, is now just 19 until 'the final thing' (as I've been referring to it for the last few months)...

How on earth have nearly 5 months since the day we sat down in mine and Charlie's flat and filled in the forms to officially sign up for Trailwalker gone so quickly?!

For those who've been treated (probably not the phrase the long suffering husband & boyfriend/ Trailwalker widowers would use) to tales of our progress along the way, it may interest you know that preparations are underway for the last 'big' training walk before the real deal. 

This Saturday will mark the beginning of a 2 week countdown to the date now associated with stomach flips of both nervousness and excitement: Saturday 19th July. 

For the last time we'll be meeting up at around 7am and heading off to the South Downs again to tackle more hills, get more disciplined with timings...and hone those map and compass reading skills to limit the chances of getting lost in the dark in a few weeks time! 

No doubt we'll be updating you on how it all goes!

June 7/8th - Team Tree D trains on the South Downs - by Niamh

So it turns out that The South Downs Way are hilly - very very hilly

The weekend did not begin well - after I had spent many an hour ribbing other members of our team over the last seven years for their inability to be on time (Anna at the Manchester grad ball, Hel - pretty much always!) I am nearly responsible for all us missing the 7.30am train from Victoria. What can I say, I don't like mornings. We made the train but only after a red faced Niamh chased after the rest of the girls across the station with all the lucazade sport for the weekend!

We got the train to Amberley and begun our walk at check point 4. The first thing we noticed was that it was one hot day, so several wardrobe changes were necessary - off with the jogging bottoms and on with the shorts, apart from me, as I don't do clothing that will expose me to the sun - I don't like getting burnt. The second thing we noticed was we had a big hill to climb! The third thing was how quiet and peaceful it was.

We walked to our B&B, which was about 33k; we then did an extra route around the village of Fulking to get our walking distance for the day over the 40k mark. We were all rather taken aback by how much longer it took us to cover distances that we had breezed in London town, the terrain was really tough as was the relentless heat. The South Downs is mostly made of chalk like stone, and we walked on stony paths and little tracks and trekked through fields with sheep (newly sheered) and horses (they are beautiful). We were very bad at finding the water taps promised along the course, we toyed with knocking on a strangers door as we do all look like nice, wholesome girls, but we resisted and snuck into the next pub we came to and filled our water bottles. The result of this for me was that I ended up a little dehydrated and combined with the nastiest hill in the world (maybe a slight exaggeration) I had a 'moment' when I eventually got to the top. I felt sick, moving my head hurt and I was very worried about my ability to climb that hill again in a few weeks time. I couldn't have done it without Helen walking along side me and chatting to me all the way to the top. My admiration for her ability to climb that hill, talk, motivate and care for me all at one time is infinite.

One of the reasons for doing trailwalker was the chance to spent quality time with three friends that I love deeply. I will forever be grateful for the time we have all been able to spend together with no distractions. I have said several times already and each time I say it I mean it more, I couldn't do this without my three beautiful friends, I knew that I was lucky to have friends who care for me so much and know me so well. I now know that I am truly blessed to have these women in my life. They are wonderful and true and helped me every step of the weekend to make the distance and to keep smiling through it.

That said, it wasn't all like something out of a weepy chick flick - Anna braved the massivest sneezing fit ever to carry on walking - hay fever is bad! We managed to find ourselves with a choice of three foot high stinging nettles or climbing over barbed wire to continue our walk back to the B&B and our pub meal awaiting us! I also discovered that after the best part of two days walking, you no longer notice that you are really sweaty, and that you stink...until you get back to London and get on a tube without your three buddies that smell too! Charlie qualified as wonder woman, as she read the map, compass, breezed the hills and kept us giggling - what a team leader! and Hel wowed us with her extensive knowledge of song lyrics (so we'll sing The Shoop Shoop song again shall we?!!)

We discussed amongst others topics such as The Apprentice, the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, our significant others, the killing fields in Cambodia, how we were going to tell our imaginary children about this (and subsequently what we will call our imaginary children), God, the meaning of life, Big Brother, shoes, hangovers and how much we like Percy Pigs (sweets from M&S). Several people have asked me how on earth we will be able to talk to eachother for 30 straight hours without getting bored - I don’t think any of us are worried about that!!

We had a great weekend and overall covered between 70-75k over two days. At times it felt like Mordor and we were like Frodo and it was harder than I had imagined it would be. It was humbling in so many ways, the scenery is spectacular. It made me realise how much we take for granted, the people that Oxfam help regularly walk these distances just to get water. As the real thing draws near, I worry about how hard it will be and then remember that we are a strong team and we will all do this, and we will do it together.

It was quite a weekend - bring on the 100k

Belated blog no.2...

Right, this blogging wall is looking a bit bare, so here goes with a very belated no. 2... 

We'd intended to do several blogs along the way to chart the progress of our training from January onwards, but what with all those early morning training walks and trips to Decathlon, writing the blogs took a back seat (sorry girls!). 

However, with a grand total of 25 days left until the big event (eek!), now seems as good a time as any to share some photos, training stories...and our last minute fears about the greatest challenge of our lives!! 

This is also where we'd love you to add any comments or words of wisdom and advice to help get us through those long 30 hours we have in store for us on 19th & 20th July! 

Hel x