Hadrians Wall Walk - Friday 13 June to Sunday 15 June Phil Wallis, David Kearn and I completed a coast to Coast walk along the Hadrians Wall route over a 3 day period. The total distance of the walk was 91 miles from Tynemouth Castle on the east coast to Bowness - on - Solway on the west coast. Prior to the walk, Fiona Jones asked me what I would do if I needed a poo while in the middle of nowhere - sensible question as my food intake had almost doubled because of the extra energy I would need - I was well prepared though with a toilet roll in my back pack at all times!! To summarise, we walked 35 miles on the first day followed by 30 on the second and 26 on the final day to complete the walk. To say I was totally bollocksed at the end of the first days walk would be understating it - I was absolutely exhausted. I started to feel some tiredness after walking 15 miles, but after 18 - 19 miles it was beginning to get uncomfortable and my left knee had started to swell. At the end of the first 35 miles, Phils wife Cath kindly drove us back to the hostel where we would spend the night. On arriving at the hostel my left knee had seized and took a while before I could get any movement from it. It was of course painful, but my main concern was whether I would be able to get sufficient movement from my knee to keep up a decent pace the following day. I also had 6 blisters on my left foot and 8 on the right. I didnt have a needle with me so I just cut them open with a knife and soaked them for a while. At the start of the second day my left knee was still swollen with little movement. The only real option I had was to force my knee to move, which it eventually did. We completed 30 miles on the second day ending at Walton. David collapsed on a bench at the side of the road, I just laid down on the pavement seriously considering spending the night there, while Phil, still looking as fresh as a daisy went looking for where we had arranged to meet Cath. When Cath arrived she parked directly across the road from where David and I had sprawled. I was still trying to work out how to get up off the pavement, but getting to the other side of the road was just too much too much to contemplate! Although I had twisted my left knee on the second day which was making it more difficult to walk, having completed 65 miles with only 26 more to cover on the final day, provided the encouragement I needed. We ended the walk at Bowness - on - Solway. As I was the first to arrive on the beach, I won - and I couldnt care less what Phil and David think!! Cath had kindly bought new t-shirts for us - probably so we would smell a bit better on the way home - and some bottles of beer to celebrate! Big thank you to Cath as her help each day was amazing. The purpose of the walk was to raise money for Kings School Trust in Zambia, a charity started by my parents approximately 14 years ago and one I am personally involved with: kingsschooltrust.co.uk (name of the charity is Lifespring International, number 1094863). At Kings School Trust, we currently provide education, food and clothing to children in a very deprived area of north west Zambia. 90% of people in the area live below the poverty line (the poverty line being an expectation of no more than 3 meals per week) hence the need to feed the school children. This is a great cause and having a dramatic effect on the lives of hundreds of children, providing hope where there previously hasnt been. If you would like to provide sponsorship for the walk we have completed, all of your donation will go to the school as we have each personally paid for the expenses of the walk. All donations will be gratefully received. You can provide sponsorship by simply replying to me and notifying the sponsorship amount; paying through PayPal (we have a link on our website), or we also have a page set up on Virgin Money Giving - if you go onto this site, you will need to type in Lifespring International in the search box and the first option is for our charity - you will see the logo Kings School Trust. Many thanks, Martin
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 17:38:48 +0000